HOW IS IT MADE?
 
The varied ingredients used to create these handmade dolls are sago, plaster of Paris, wood pulp and papier mache. Clay from the banks of Cauvery, the river by which Thanjavur is situated, is used in its making. This fertile soil adds to the beauty of the dolls after it's been made.
Thanjavur dolls are primarily of two kinds, one is the bobble-head version, and the other is the tilting doll version. The dancing girl, one variation of a bobble-head doll, once tapped on the head, bobs its head in response, which is due to the metal string that links the head of the doll to its stable base. The head of the doll, its chest and arms, and its hips, draped in a skirt, constitute the three moving parts, of one variation of this dancing bobble-head doll. Its feet are firm, but the three moving parts are interlinked in such a way that if the hips are tapped gently, the doll transforms into an almost real danseuse. Another variant of the dancing doll is an old couple in a seated position; a simple tap on the head, and they turn into bobble-heads.

On the contrary, tilting dolls are topple-free and hollow. The Thanjavur tilting doll is also known as the Gundu Chatti Bommai (Round Pot Doll) or Raja-Rani Bommai. The law of equilibrium decides the course of its movements.The base of the tilting dolls is structured such that they are curved and heavy.

Due to this, the doll does not topple over, but only its head bobs, giving the illusion of the doll being animated and alive. Raw materials used to make these are plaster of Paris and paper pulp, which are coalesced with tuber-gum into a dough-like blend. The back and front panels of the doll are made by pressing this flour-like stiff mixture into shape-rendering moulds. Upon drying, these dried panels are removed from the moulds, and paper is glued to them.

The seam which joins the clay-filled round-base, the front and the back of the hollow-doll are both, later, sealed and varnished with tuber gum. After final drying, the surface of the doll is polished with emery paper, which is followed by secure layering, in the form of colouring, with an assortment of oil paints.

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