Karagöz Depiction Making
Shadow play Karagöz, one of the important elements of traditional Turkish theater, is our cultural heritage that has been kept alive since the Ottoman period. Karagöz depictions are made using tanned camel, cow, goat, gazelle and donkey skin. Specially prepared, cleaned leathers with no knife marks are selected and scraped with cleaning knives, then wetted with water to ensure that the "leather is raw". Molds of the figures to be depicted are drawn on the skin with a tool called "Awl". After cutting with steel scissors, traditional carving is made from the line parts of the depiction with nevregan knives. The carving is done on the upper and lower parts of the leather and the burrs are removed with the cleaning knife. After the other carvings on the depiction are opened with the Nevregan knife, the carvings are contoured and lined using a thin brush with ink or black paint to make the carvings stand out. The colored sides of the depiction are painted using traditionally prepared natural herbs and roots such as lahur indigo, indigo, indigofera, turmeric roots and synthetic dyes. After the paint dries, a round piece called a "button" with a diameter of one and a half centimeters is sewn with waxed thread on the button whose holes have been opened with an "awl", in the place determined as the center of gravity and playing place of the depiction. The button is punched with a punch to attach the wand during the playback of the depiction. Apart from the figures used in the plays, the displays used as decoration on the screen called "mirror" are also made with the same method.
In Karagöz plays; Greek, Armenian, Frankish, Albanian, Laz, Rumalili, immigrant from Kastamonu, wrestler, Çelebi, Cazular, saltless deli Bekir, drinker, zenne, bathhouse owner, boza seller, Bolulu, cook, coffee shop, liver seller, instrumentalist, belly dancer, etc. Descriptions of the types are made.