Papier Mache painted Easter Egg, 6cms
Assorted designs and colours.

We can't, unfortunately, guarantee to provide a specific colour or design.

Papier mache forms, hand painted in Kashmir or in the Kashmiri style. Objects made of papier mache are built of paper pulp, or layers of paper pulp -hence the name papier mache or 'mashed paper'. However, the craft of papier mache refers, in practice, here actually to the technique of surface decoration rather than the creation of the body of the object. Depictions of flora and fauna, along with geometrical patterns - especially as borders - are predominant. 

Traditionally colours derived from minerals and plants and vegetables were used. Nowadays water based synthetic colours are preferred and combined with gold leaf and gold paint. The painted surface is coated with a transparent lacquer made from the badam tree. This protects the painting. The drying process has to be natural; no heat is applied. Traditional designs are reinterpreted into modern shapes. The process of paper mache is very elaborate and time consuming and gives employment to several thousand artisans of the Kashmir valleys.

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