Hands-on Puppet Making Workshops in Delhi

This video shows students deeply focused during a wood carving session. Everyone works at their own pace, feeling the wood and bringing their own character to life from a simple block.

Here, we are working with papier-mâché, an alternative to wood. This video shows the 'paper messy' stage of the workshop, where we build up layers to create a strong and lightweight puppet head.

This is a puppet head after the papier-mâché has been applied and dried, ready for the next stage. You can see the basic facial features have been formed, creating a blank canvas for painting.

A close-up of a finished papier-mâché head. The texture is rough and full of character before any paint is even applied. This method allows for a lot of creativity in the final look.

Day 9 of our workshop is for painting. A student carefully adds color and detail to the puppet's face, which is the moment the character truly starts to show its personality. We also begin making the small clothes.

The final step is giving the puppet life with new strings. In this video, we are attaching the strings and I am performing a small blessing, a tradition we call 'Nayi Zindagi, Nayi Dor' which means 'New Life, New String'.

This video shows different moments from our carving and papier-mâché workshop with students from Germany. It shows the focus and dedication required as they learn to work with their hands to create art.

This video montage shows the entire journey of a workshop, from students carving and painting to me blessing the finished puppet. It ends with a happy group photo, celebrating the new puppets they have created together.

A video celebrating World Puppet Day, showing the joy of making and sharing this art form. You can see students learning, me performing with a finished puppet, and the community that this craft builds.