Leather Puppets and Lamp Shades

The craft of making leather puppets is inextricably linked to the traditional folk form of cultural expression. Puppetry is also known as Tolu Bommalu or Tolu Bommalatta in Telugu i.e leather puppetry, this form of shadow-puppet theatre is found in several regions of Andhra Pradesh. Tolu means leather in Telugu and bommalu means dolls or figures in Telugu. The puppetry was one of the main forms of entertainment in olden days. Gradual urbanisation led puppetry limited to villages. In recent times, the entertainment business flourishing into movies, television and mobile entertainment, the art form is in a dying state hence the leather puppet makers are being forced to diversify their art into making utility items such as colourful lamp shades, in order to cater to a new market.

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The artisan makes the designs, which are mythological figures, animals and their own creations. Many puppets have movable hands and legs and some have movable heads and necks. These brilliantly crafted puppets help in the development of soft motor skills of growing children. Hence today many international schools are introducing puppetry as an activity in their educational regime.

• Hand Puppet play helps young children develop creative skills by enforcing them to use their imaginations.
• It is through imaginative play that children come to understand the difference between fantasy and reality.
• It improves their expressing skills.

The leather lamp shades are now the new age home decor. The leather painted lamp shades come in various variants and are decorated with vibrant colours which give an aesthetic look to the home interiors. The art of making leather puppetry dates back to centuries and is being carried forward through generations.

The SHGs (Self Help Groups) which are still into this leather puppetry making business are supported by SERP-AP (Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty) and the puppets (Peacock, Tiger, Horse, Vinayaka, Hanuman, etc.) to name a few and the lamp shades are listed on KALGUDI platform. Through the purchase of these beautifully crafted home decor puppets and lampshades, we can lend our helping hand to support this art form from extinction.

#LightShades #LampShades #LeatherPuppets #ToluBommalu #Marionette #SoftMotorSkills  #Memory in kids                  www.kalgudi.com

Weight Management with Millets

                                                       

Now is the world of superfoods. Many urban and semi-urban residents have brought a major transformation in their eating habits by replacing cereals with Millets due to many reasons like low calorie, high fibre content and nutritive value.

Due to sedentary lifestyle and busy schedules many of us hardly find time to do any form of physical activity, because of which many professionals are being diagnosed with high blood sugar, and cholesterol levels at a very young age which are quite detrimental over a period of time, so many professionals are avoiding high-calorie food, thus cereals are being replaced with Millets.

Millets are superfoods. Millets are low in calorie and high in fibre, which keeps blood sugar and cholesterol in control during one’s sedentary lifestyle. Many of us have become conscious about calorie intake, as a result, sweets and desserts are avoided with a heavy heart and thus forced to control our sugar cravings.

The SHGs (Self Help Groups) supported by SERP (Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty) in Andhra Pradesh are into the business of selling Millets (Ragi, Korra, Little millet, Brown millet, Barnyard millet, Kodo millet etc.), Millet Flour (Ragi flour, Korra flour, Bajra flour and little millet flour), Millet Snacks (Foxtail Millet Mixture, Ragi Boondi and Foxtail Murukulu, etc.), Millet Confectionery (Jowar Cake, Korra Cake, Jowar Laddu, Bajra Laddu etc.), and Millet Biscuits (Bajra Biscuits, Ragi Biscuits, Korra Biscuits, etc.).

The SHGs have come up with a variety of jaggery and millet-based sweets and confectionery for calorie-conscious and diabetic people to satisfy their sweet cravings without regrets in a healthy way. Kalgudi platform stalls these products for the SHGs.

Let us all contribute our share of social responsibility with a health benefit by purchasing these from SHGs through Kalgudi platform to uplift & empower rural women and also lead a healthy life which includes superfoods into our regular diet.

#WeightLoss#LowCalorie#WeightManagement#FatBurning#HealthyDietFoods#Millets

www.kalgudi.com

Indian Ethnic Wear - Saree

                      

Saree/Sari has been on every Indian women's list of clothing. It has a permanent space in every Indian women's wardrobe. Saree is an evergreen fashion flavour of every season. There are different types of Sarees from Synthetic machine made to handwoven sarees. The Sarees which are handwoven is an ancient age-old tradition which dates back to many centuries. Handloom Cotton fabric have been evergreen due to eco-friendly and skin-friendly nature and less prone to fire accidents. Cotton fabric is the most preferred form of clothing in Semi tropical region. While silk is for occasional wear due to its heavy constituency and inherent party look. The handwoven/handloom sarees are losing their authenticity as they are at a higher price, it involves a lot of manpower and it takes 3 to 40 days to make a saree based on the design and the materials.

The Handlooms have many variants based on thread count and the place of weaving, to name a few are Mangalgiri, Venkatagiri, Pochampalli, Dharmavaram, Uppada, etc. The handweaving skill has percolated from generations to generations. The weavers are now facing a tough time because of the synthetic cloth revolution in the industry which is cost effective and low maintenance. The weavers have meagre knowledge on digital marketing and online platform for promotion of their products.

To uplift these weavers KALGUDI is working with SERP (Society for Elimination of Rural Society) in Andhra Pradesh to bring all their products online under the brand name of eMahila. The products went live on Kalgudi platform and they are receiving orders from various locations.

Self Help Groups like Vyshnavi Handlooms, Prasanna Self Help Group, Suguna Self Help Group, APCO Amaravathi Handloom House, Madhuri Venkatgiri Handloom Sarees, Krushi DWCRA Products, K.Raghavendra Handlooms, Sivalingappa Gadwal Sarees, etc. to name a few are now online on KALGUDI platform.

Thus, Kalgudi brought the weavers online and increased their visibility and widened their market sphere.

Party Wear Sarees, Wedding Sarees, Kalamkari Sarees, Indian Bridal Sarees   www.kalgudi.com