Daruma

How does it work?

The main purpose of these dolls is to help their owners to continue believing in their dreams and to encourage them to achieve their goals.
It is not a coincidence that they do not have pupils. When you set a goal to be achieved during the year (whether professional, love, related to education...) you have to draw the left eye of your daruma only. With his single eye it will regularly remind you that you have a goal to reach and will encourage you to succeed. Once the goal is reached you can draw the other eye. Once you have a new goal in mind, you can acquire a new model.

Main features and colors

Shapes and colors vary but the original Daruma is round, red with black and golden decorations.
However there are other colors available, each corresponding to a specific type of wish:

• golden for wealth
• green for health
• pink for love
• white for balance or for a wedding
• black for protection from bad luck

The particular shape of the statue and its weight balance allow it to always get back straight to its initial position. An old saying referring to these dolls is falls seven times, gets up eight times.

Manufacturing

Even today craftmens still use the same traditional manufacturing process to craft daruma dolls
  
After being crushed and boiled for a long time paper is mixed with a special adhesive and then placed in molds with the proper shape.
When the papier mache is dry the dolls go through a first painting process where they are completely covered with white.
They are then covered with a second layer of paint corresponding to the desired final color and the face of the statue is painted in white.
The next step is to add all the details such as the face and kanji on the belly.
The final step is the drying process where the dolls are put on top of bamboo sticks. Once dry, a paper patch is added at the bottom to cover the remaining hole.