Post production and Marketing

In Natungram working areas of the local men starts from collecting woods to carving and all pre productions. But the most attractive part i.g . colouring part is done by the women of Natungram. Even the children are also helping their parents by colour the dolls with attractive designs.

Colouring has to be done by the female member of a family.They did an

wonderful job and create various motifs and designs by themselves.They have used lots of colours in the dolls like-green,yellow, black borders and red and sometimes blues can be used in making the owls and the other dolls. Basically they have used fabric colours

and oil paints in decorating the dolls. Sometimes they also have used blue lamps in the varnished products to crate varnishing shadow effects.Its basically a technique of burning the some areas of the products to crate the light and shade effects.

Packaging- Packaging can be done at the time of selling the products.They wrap around newspaper over the products and sell it.

A sea change can be seen in the products made by the artisans of Natungram.They are simply diversified and get a new form .The artisans of Natungram started their wood crafting 200 years ago .Since then the artisans making various types of wooden dolls for their livelihood. Now a days a change of colour, texture, and design can be seen. Colours are more vibrant like yellow,red,blue and bold black border of each part to define. Various complex and intricate wood carving techniques have been introduced. The design of the products are also varied from the older piece of products.Thay are more

attractive than earlier.Also various new products have been introduced in around 5 years ago like the owl lamp shades, owl sofa set, owl chairs and other similar products .The the wooden textured owl are also a new product in Natungram. Marketing and Finance Direct Sale to the customers through various fairs(mela)retail showrooms,exhibitions and to whole-sellers all over India happens. For exportable products the artisan doesn't sell directly,

they export their products through various export merchants and other NGOs and Govt. undertakakings to the market of countries like USA, UK, Australia, Germany and Middle Eastern Countries. Sometimes the small artisan is also found to be selling directly to the trader. This kind of selling is generally on poor economic terms for the artisan and could also be distress selling. But in Natungram people are dependent upon the fairs and the exhibitions mainly.They sell their products in fairs like-Kolkata Hasta Silpa Mela, Sobola Mela,Manjusha kutir slipe deptar mela, Saras mela and other handicraft fairs held in different places of Siliguri, Bardhaman, Bankura, Birbhum(Shantiniketan), Mayapur, Nawadwip and the like.

The domestic market for Wooden dolls are also changing. The consumers are becoming more discerning and would like to purchase handicrafts on value and merit, and not solely on empathy. Along with the importance of traditional marketing channels like exhibition ,handicraft fairs and sales in Indian cities, etc. the new channels such as e-commerce need to be explored more for the sake of these poor people.