Tag: Block printing

Block printing workshop in Barmer

On the way to Jaisalmer we stopped at Barmer to attend a block printing workshop run for us by a small textile printing company called Panihari.

This was very exciting as one of the workers first showed us the process and then we were each given a metre of cloth and helped to create our own prints. We each just used two different blocks one for the edge and one for the centre, but they would use several wooden blocks to create a detailed pattern with several colours (see the Anokhi post). The solution we pressed onto the material was made of lime and gum. This will act as a ‘resist’ so that when the material is dyed the patterned sections will remain white.

Wooden blocks with carved designs

They will dye our prints with indigo and send them on to us in Jaisalmer … watch this space.

Block printing – Bagru village

We visited a small block printing factory in a village called Bagru near Jaipur where they use a technique called Mud Resist.

Initially they create a paste made of of earth, water, wheat powder and gum  A wooden block with a carved pattern is pressed into the paste and then onto white cotton material. Then sawdust is sprinkled on the top and print is left to dry.

The fabric is then dyed in cold dye- first in a solution to enable the dye to take, and then into the dye itself. In this case the dye was made from scraps of iron producing a grey colour.

The process can then be repeated pressing the mud resist solution onto the parts of the fabric which are to be kept at that dyed colour. The whole dying process is repeated as many times as required. Eventually the resist solution is washed off and the printed fabric remains

and of course they had a shop, and of course there was a natural progression