Budhni Lacquered Wooden Toy Craft
Lathe-turned toys coloured by pressing a stick of lac against the spinning wood.
Budhni, a small town on the Narmada in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh, makes lacquered wooden toys and objects — rattles, teethers, miniature kitchen sets, spinning tops, fruit, cradles, boxes, candle stands, garden ornaments and bangles — turned on a lathe and coloured by the friction application of coloured lac. The forms are simple and rounded, the colours glossy and bright, and the craft belongs to the same broad family as the better-known Channapatna and Etikoppaka lac-turnery.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Budhni, Madhya Pradesh
Also Known As
Budni khilona, Budhni lac toys, Nasrullaganj woodcraft
Craft Type
Lathe-turned lacquered woodcraft
Practising Community
Kharadi (lathe-turner) artisan families
Materials
Soft local woods such as dudhi; sticks of coloured lac (shellac blended with mineral and synthetic pigments); palm leaf or cloth for burnishing; and thread and small fittings for jointed pieces.
Known For
Lac-turned wooden toys, miniature kitchen sets, spinning tops, boxes and bangles
Where It's Made
Budhni town on the Narmada, Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh
Time to Create
One to three days per set
GI Status
Not GI-registered; belongs to the same family as the GI-tagged Channapatna and Etikoppaka crafts
Process Steps
Seasoning and cutting the wood
Soft wood is dried and sawn into rough blanks sized to the toy or object to be made.
Mounting on the lathe
The blank is fixed between the lathe centres so it can be turned true.
Turning the shape
The spinning blank is cut to its profile with hand-held chisels braced on a rest.
Applying the lac colour
A stick of coloured lac is pressed to the spinning wood; friction heat lays down a glossy coat of colour.
Burnishing
A palm leaf or cloth is held against the piece to spread the lac evenly and polish it to a shine.
Adding further colours and detail
The piece is given additional bands and details with other lac sticks in successive passes.
Assembling
Multi-part items such as kitchen sets, cradles and jointed toys are put together from the turned components.
Technique Glossary
Lac turnery
Turning wood on a lathe and colouring it by friction with sticks of coloured lac.
Lac (lakh)
A resin secreted by the lac insect, melted with pigment to make the coloured coating.
Kharadi
The hereditary lathe-turner community that practises lac woodcraft in central and western India.
Friction polishing
Using the heat generated by holding a leaf or cloth against the spinning piece to melt and buff the lac.
Channapatna family
The wider group of Indian lac-turning toy centres — Channapatna, Etikoppaka, Varanasi, Budhni — that share the method.
Dudhi wood
A soft, pale, even-grained wood favoured for lac turnery because it cuts cleanly and takes colour well.
Chak (lathe)
The turning lathe, historically hand- or bow-driven, now usually motorised.
A Craft Through Time
Pre-modern
Fair and pilgrimage turnery
Kharadi lacquer-turners at Budhni supply toys and household turned goods to Narmada-valley markets and pilgrims.
20th century
Craft-board support
Government schemes help the cluster move toward decorative and gift products as demand for wooden toys shifts.
Late 20th century
Recognition
Budhni is listed among Madhya Pradesh's traditional craft centres and shown at state and national fairs.
21st century
Design intervention
Designers and institutions work with the turners on contemporary homeware and eco-friendly toys.
Present
A small surviving cluster
A limited number of families keep the lathe-and-lac craft going, aided by tourism and craft demand.
Did You Know?
No brush ever touches a lac-turned toy — the colour is a stick of lac melted straight onto the wood by the heat of the lathe, then buffed to a shine with a leaf.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.