Encouraging native arts - Check out my "Tholu Bommalata" leather lamp!

Hi friends,

An interesting facebook advertisement caught my eye the other day, offering classes in Hyderabad on making a leather table lamp using the techniques used in the popular exotic art form called "Tholu Bommalata".

My finished lamp

A quick read led to some interesting discovery of this fast-dying art from the 15th century, translated as "the dance of leather puppets" (tholu – "leather" and bommalata – "puppet dance"), that was introduced by Sri Krishnadevaraya, one of the greatest kings of South India, in the states of  Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.  Centuries before the advent of the now-ubiquitous TV and Cinemas, this art form was actually shadow play of leather puppets against background light, accompanied by local musicians, and generally narrated the stories from ancient folklore including the Ramayana and Mahabharata.  The artisans belong to Nimmalakunta, a village in Dharmavaram mandal in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh and are struggling to continue the tradition to this day, by conducting shows organized by local art councils.  However, to supplement their incomes, they now make lampshades, wall hangings, paintings and bookmarks with goat skin.

This invite was from Hands on Studios, on the 14-15th March, their first "Tholu" lamp workshop in Hyderabad, while they have conducted many such before in other cities.  There were about 17 participants in the Jubilee Hills workshop amidst serene and green surroundings and we ladies were super excited to learn a totally new art form to make something useful and an asset to our interior decor. I had a wonderful experience learning to make a square table lamp, from the two artisans from the village, chiefly Anjanappa, who patiently taught us the original motifs and techniques of painting on the treated goat leather already used to prepare lamps.

First step was to practice the traditional motifs onto a square test leather piece, with pencil. Once our hands were steady and we were able to trace out a combination of the various patterns onto our lamps, we were guided to make some beautiful florals and bird motifs.  The actual painting then began by tracing out all the final lines of our motifs with a traditionally made bamboo stylus with a slit like a pen nib, dipped in black permanent drawing inks from Camel.  This quickly dried up and any corrections needed would need to be carefully scraped away without damaging the goat skin.
This was the agenda for the first day.  Before leaving for the day, we could check out the finished items on display and for sale, giving us fresh inspiration to try out other ideas and items later.

At the workshop

The master artisan teaching us the techniques

Me, an avid participant

The homework was to finish tracing out all the outlines with the black ink so that we could color the motifs the next day.  Here is my lamp with all the outlines completed..

The second day saw us getting trained in selecting and filling in various areas of our motifs with different colored inks.  The final step was to punch holes with a sharp thick needle held with a wooden handle, as this is necessary to let the light filter through the lamp when lit from inside with an electric bulb.  Richly satisfied with our almost complete lamps, it was with a sense of pride that we twirled around taking pictures and had a small fancy catwalk too with our lamps! What a fun-tastic way to end a memorable and interesting workshop, with a takeaway lamp to cherish!  Here is my final finished one!

Me and my finished lamp!

Now that our heads were brimming with ideas and our hands itching with creativity, it was no wonder, most of us participants picked up more materials from the team including canvases, bamboo pens and finished items.  It is just a matter of time, friends, before I will be able to post about my next creation using this technique, so stay tuned! 
And if you are interested to learn this art form, do check out workshops locally by Hands on Studios and any other such teams who are doing a great service by organizing these workshops and events to help keep this art form alive for the future.