Wayang Kulit and Wayang Golek

Wayang is the name given to the art of theatre in Indonesia from live to masked theatre to puppetry. Wayang Golek is the name given to the art of a certain kind of puppet theatre while the Wayang Kulit deals with a form of shadow puppetry. They are particularly popular art forms in Bali and Java.

Wayang Kulit
The puppets of these puppets are traditionally made from the hide and horn of buffalo, the buffalo horn used for the rods that manipulate the movements of the puppets body and arms which is what the hide is used for. It is a very old form of puppetry dating back to the 800's.

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Wayang Golek
Hand carved from wood and exquisitely decorated are the puppets of the Wayang Goleck. I actually got to see some of these at my old high school (la Chat). They were always on display along the hall to the theatre department which I now realise just how fitting that was. I do hope they are still there now.

Jatayus
 King of the vultures (dated c1970)

there's a fantastic gallery of images that briefly explains some of the traditional puppets and characters you can find here.

As well as a good guide on how they make the puppets here. At the beginning of the following video you can see a little of how the leather is carved: