Machilipatnam magic

PUSHPA CHARI

EXOTIC DISPLAY: P.M. Easwarudu and his creations. PHOTO: M. VEDHAN

Originally used as decorative wall hangings of the Muslim royalty of South India, Kalamkari, the hand-painted and block printed textile craft, was Persian-inspired, with the ‘Tree of Life’ as the dominant motif against a profusion of flowers, creepers and birds. The Machilipatnam ‘Mihrab’ created by master artisan P.M. Easwarudu and his father Nageswara Rao for the Festival of India in 1982 is a masterpiece of Kalamkari.Sadly Machilipatnam Kalamkari craft went into near oblivion in the early 20th century due to changing lifestyles and lack of patronage. It was resuscitated in the 1960s by visionaries such as Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay, Nelli Sethna, Pupul Jayakar and others. Painstakingly going through old Kalamkari collections and loads of forgotten blocks, and working with artisans such as Easwarudu they have revived Kalamkari.

Easwarudu, who was an integral part of this great revival, is in Chennai to participate in Craft’s Bazaar 2011, organised by the Crafts Council of India. Surrounded by his incredible oeuvre of Kalamkari bed linen, table linen, saris, yardage, scarves and stoles he speaks of his passion for Kalamkari, its present and future…

The revival of Machilipatnam Kalamkari…

By the 1960s Kalamkari had all but died out. At this juncture Kamla Deviji helped the Balyagudem Cooperative Industry, an organisation which worked with Kalamkari artisans. The craft got a further lease of life with Nelli Sethna’s intervention. She studied the craft from old manuscripts and books and got hold of ancient printing blocks. She stayed in our village for two months and exposed us to new Kalamkari formats, borders, bed sheets, table linen and saris using the old blocks. So beautiful were her formats that we only had to say “This is a Nelli Sethna design” and it would sell. I worked closely with her.

I believe the Festival of India really placed Kalamkaris centre stage…

Yes, it was in 1982. Martand Singh collected a lot of Kalamkari museum pieces and got blocks made in Mumbai based on their patterns. Martand Singh’ s team headed by Gautam Vaghela who was then Director, Design Weaver’s Centre, Mumbai, also did a lot of research on natural dyes which threw up many new vegetable dyes, shades and tones. Martand also developed three new designs for the Festival of India’s ‘Vishvakarma Exhibition’. One of them was the Machlipatnam Mihrab which you see behind me.

How did the project take off?

Martand Singh and his team brought the blocks and patterns to my village in search of artisans. My father and I did the job. We learnt to use the old block patterns and also customise them to suit clients’ tastes. We developed new blocks, which together with the expanded colour palette have given new life to the craft.

Do you use all these techniques?

Yes, my saris, wall hangings, fabric and linen are a mix of old and new techniques of colours and motifs. We continue to adopt new trends in blocks and formats.

What is the state of Kalamkari block print today?

Not entirely satisfactory. Many units have sprung up. They make cheap screen printed Kalamkari saris, fabric etc. There is adulteration in colours and patterns. Many from the younger generation have left in search of more paying jobs. Government schemes to help craftsmen hardly reach the Kalamkari artisan.

(Easwarudu’s Machilipatnam Kalamkari saris, fabric, salwar kameez outfits, bed and table linen etc. are on view at Crafts Bazaar 2011 – Stall No. 3, Valluvar Kottam, Nungambakkam High Road, till October 2.)

Natural ingredients used to make organic colors for Block printing.

http://www.dhonk.com/

Dhonk is a private company making handicrafts in and around Ranthambhore. It aims to provide a sustainable livelihood to people living near Ranthambhore.

Dhonk’s objective is to promote raw local talent and bring out the colors of Rajashtan for the consumer. Dhonk is blend of ethnic and modernistic fashion giving the best of both the worlds to the buyer. It is focused on achieving perfection steadily to bring maximum joy for its patrons.

Chanderi

Chanderi fabrics are known for their sheer texture, light weight and a glossy transparency that sets them apart from textiles produced en masse in factories. Traditionally, the fabric was woven using very fine hand spun cotton warps and wefts, which accounted for its delicate texture.

 It was spun as fine as 300 counts, and was as prized amongst cotton fabrics as the famed muslins of Dhaka. However, the Industrial Revolution sounded the first death knell on this beautiful textile. The British imported cheaper 120 to 200 count cotton from Manchester, which greatly eroded the market for the more expensive Chanderi cloth.
Traditionally, the quality of the gold thread used distinguished Chanderi saris from cheaper imitations. Most Chanderis have a rich gold border and two lines of gold on the pallu. Some have gold checks or little motifs (known as Butis) all over.

 

To read more on this textile wonder follow the link below.

http://mytextilenotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/chanderi-fabric-process-and.html

I am selling this gorgeous light weight dupatta with cotton and silk woven with pure gold zari at the border.

Kalamkari

History of Kalamkari in Sri Kalahasti, Andhra Pradesh
To view the video to see the artisans at work click here

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Kalamkari refers to a method of painting natural dyes onto cotton or silk fabric with a bamboo pen or kalam. The name kalamkari translates as pen (kalam) work (kari) in Hindi/Urdu, and was most likely derived from trade relationships between Persian and Indian merchants as early as the 10th century CE.

The origin of Chintz a.k.a. Coramandal

I got this article to refer people to the history of coramandal fabric. To see the original article click  here.

I am selling a couple of bedsheets and quilts with this authentic print.

DID YOU NOW?

The earlier chintz is defined as Indian cotton cloth on which a pattern has been produced by hand drawing with a bamboo (kalam) and dyeing with mordants and resists. In some later examples, block printing was combined with hand drawn pen work (Kalamkari).

Chintz would usually have been burnished with a shell or beaten with wooden mallets to produce a shiny surface, but this finish has worn off almost all historic examples. Chintz textiles were used in Europe, especially in Britain and the Netherlands, from the early seventeenth century to early nineteenth, when the availability of mechanized copies put an end to the trade in hand printed cloths from India.

Wood Block prints of India

Got this interesting article about block prints from another blog.http://onceuponateatime.blogspot.com/2009/04/weekend-special-wood-block-prints-of.html

Woodblock printing originated in China, first on fabric and later, on paper. It was widely used in Japan to produce "motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre and pleasure quarters" such as those by Hiroshige....

"View of Mt Fuji from Harajuku", part of Fifty three stations of the Tokaido series by Hiroshige (Image credit: Wikipedia commons)

Indigo dye extraction

An example of how organic natural dyes are extracted.
I have included a few pictures. Follow the link above to view the original post.
Indigofera tinctoria bears the common name True indigo. The plant was one of the original sources of indigo dye.
True indigo is a shrub one to two meters high. Dye is obtained from the processing of the plant's leaves. They are soaked in water and fermented in order to convert the glycoside indican naturally present in the plant to the blue dye indigotin. The precipitate from the fermented leaf solution is mixed with a strong base such as lye, pressed into cakes, dried, and powdered. The powder is then mixed with various other substances to produce different shades of blue and purple.