Shadow puppets are flat translucent figures — usually cut from tanned buffalo hide, thin leather, or thick paper — mounted on bamboo or horn rods and moved between a lamp and a stretched cloth screen. The audience sees the shadow. Each figure is intricately cut to allow light through in patterns of colour or pattern, and painted on both sides in bright translucent dyes. The best pieces are almost lace-like in cut-out detail.
Puppets are jointed at the shoulders, elbows and knees, controlled from below by a puppeteer working multiple rods at once. A traditional performance involves music, spoken narration, and hours of story-telling — often through the night. The craft of making the puppets is closely tied to the craft of performing them: most puppet-makers are or were performers themselves.
Explore this craft by country
Each country page describes how this tradition is practised there — its own names, materials, workshops and living makers.