Gamthi Prints

Gamthi as the name indicates comes from Gaam or Graam (ग्राम) - the village! It is a block printing technique from the western state of Gujarat and is widely available throughout the state.

As with all things historic, this printing method also used natural dye colors obtained from Indigo, turmeric, henna leaves, roots, barks of trees etc. But as to whether the process still remains the same, is a question that I do not have an answer for.

The most difficult part is in creating the intricate motif on a piece of teak wood. The reason to use teak wood is because it is one of the strongest hard woods available in India and lasts for a long period of time. The longevity of the block is worth the time spent in crafting the block design. Below is a picture of a block print design.

Block print motif (Image: gaatha.com)

Seen below is an image which shows block printing in progress. A beautiful writeup on the Gamthi block printing process can be found here. Yet another wonderful writeup of the block printing process (by an excellent photographer) can be found here.

Gamthi Block Printing (Image: lojadela.wordpress.com)

I am sure we all wear these prints, but never realize that it is Gamthi. Many of the cotton salwar kameez material with block print designs from Surat, Mumbai etc. are all Gamthi. The base material on to which the printing will be done has to be slightly thick so as to bear the brunt of the dye. And when block printing is done, you can see that the dye penetrates all the way to the reverse of the cloth, unlike screen printing where it will be visible only on one side.

All my Gamthi prints were picked up at Amdavad. As you can see there are lot of imperfections and that's what makes it hand made!

Gamthi Prints from Amdavad

Kantha work

From the state of West Bengal, comes the Kantha handicraft. In its simplest form, it is nothing but the humblest of stitches - the running stitch!! In olden days, this stitch was used in quilt making. Layers of worn out clothes would be covered by a soft, old, used cotton saree and these stitches were run all over the quilt so as to hold the layers in place.

Slowly, they started getting used in more decorative pieces such as table cloths, pillow covers etc. Now it has moved into the wider market, but is still made by hand. Many of us I am sure have a Kantha blouse or a Kantha purse or a Kantha saree!

Kantha on Murshidabad Silk

My Kantha saree was purchased at the Murshidabad Silk House - Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan, in Gariahat Market, near Rash Behari Avenue in the City of Joy. The saree is a chocolate brown Murshidabad Silk (which is very light and almost like Tussar, aiding in both flexibility to do the embroidery, as well as keeping the saree weight low; as the embroidery tends to make the saree heavy) onto which the Kantha work was done by women trained from villages in and around Shanthi Niketan. The estimate on the time taken to do the entire saree is about 2 months by a single person. 

There has been a lot of though process in the design. The motif repeated through the saree is that of flowers and creepers, all over the border and the pallu. Leaves form the pattern in the body of the saree. The height of the embroidery above the border continues to grow from the inner end of the saree, and as it reaches the pallu, it has reached the entire height of the saree. This gradual increase in the border reflects so very beautifully in the pleats in the front.

Here is a closeup of the pallu. Pretty much covered by thread work, there is hardly any free space left behind! I can't but imagine the patience of the person doing this work. It is a true labour of love in just two colors - pink and white.

The intense & intricate Pallu

I wanted to show how neatly the work has been done to keep the thread to a bare minimum on the reverse. By doing this, they have made sure that the maximum thread shows in the front. The stitches have to also be small enough in length so as to give flexibility in design. This truly is a work of art and a possession very close to my heart!

The silk retails at 500/- a meter and mine came with a blouse, totaling to 6 meters (Rupees 3000/-). How much do you think the Kantha work added to the cost of the saree?

Pattachitra

We move to the heritage and craft rich state of Odisha for this post. Wonderful weaves (ikat, bomkai), silks (Berhampur) and crafts (pipli patch work) dot this region. Yet another handicraft that Odisha is famous for is the Pattachitra - literally translating to drawing (chitra) on a canvas (patta).

Made originally on canvas using naturally obtained dyes and brushes, this has slowly moved to other mediums also such as palm leaf and cloth. On a green palm frond, the art work is generally done with a nail. When it dries, the exposed portion become black and looks like ink work on palm leaf. This is known as Tala-Chitra or palm leaf paintings. Generally the paintings conveyed mythological stories like the Ramayana or the zodiac calendar or the Puri deities - Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Subhadra.

Image Courtesy - gaatha.com

Slowly from canvas, it also moved to other forms of textile to spread the craft and for sustenance. The dyes used continue to be made from natural substances and hence there isn't much variety in color. Prominently used colors are red, black and white. The cloth has to be light so as to not absorb too much of the paint as well as to aid in the free movement of the brushes. So pattachitra work is generally done on Tussar silk. The only downside to this is that it creases very easily (as can be seen in some pictures :()!!

Mine is a lovely pistachio green tussar with tribal art pattachitra. It was purchased in Bhubaneshwar. While the borders are lined with huts and humans, the body has an interesting array of every day activities! This reminded me so much of the Warli art which is predominantly done in white color, once again depicting scenes from everyday life.

The pallu is a grand depiction of life in a village and a few pictures are required to showcase the vibrant pictures that have been hand painted so elegantly in just 2 colors - black and red.

The lovely pallu

Here is a closeup of some of the elements of the left and right panels.

This is the middle panel and if you look closely you will see the concentric circles that have been drawn to make sure that the paintings form a pattern perfectly!!!

Paintings derived from village scenes

Bandhani or Bandhini

Bandhani is our own indigenous tie and dye method from the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Bhandhna ( बाँधना ) means 'to tie' and hence the name bandhani for this craft form. It is a simple craft form where in the areas that need to resist the dye are covered (by tying with strings) and the fabric then dyed. This results in spectacular patterns that are unique and cannot be replicated perfectly. Here is a crepe silk from Gujarat that has varying shades of blue due to the bleeding of colors in the washing process, but the inner patterns remain white. This was purchased at Pothys a decade ago.

Bandhani Crepe Silk

People from the Saurashtra region who migrated to the Madurai region during the Nayak period carried this craft form with them. The base color of the fabric is generally white or beige so as to let the pattern show through in the end product. The design is imprinted on the fabric and then the knots are tied (to resist the dye) as required to form a pattern and finally the cloth is dyed. Remove the threads and viola! You have a unique final product!!!

Bandhani - 1) Tied fabric 2) String removed 3) Fabric pressed to reveal pattern 4) Final product

I picked up this Bandhani cotton saree from Madurai. It has a chevron pattern pallu and a concentric circle pattern in the body with hand embroidery.

Bandhani Pallu of a Cotton Saree

 Body of the Cotton Saree which has Bandhani Pattern with embroidery done

 
As you can see, this is a labour intensive process as each knot has to be tied with hand. The more the number of knots, the more labour intensive it is and hence the price is also high. This has led to a decline in this craft form as patronage is low.The Crafts Council of India is working towards preserving this craft form.

A poor and cheap imitation of this art form is the local cousin Sungudi, for which Madurai is widely known.  This is created using screen printing method where in the pattern is created for the width of the saree and is printed repeatedly for the length of the saree. This is a Ranee Sungudi that I picked up from a recent Madurai trip - fell for the color combination!

Sungudi Saree

Wishing my (very few) readers a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2015!

Pipili Patch Work

Pipili is a small town en route to Puri from Bhubaneswar. It is very famous for its patch or applique work. Applique is a French technique of sewing over the base material with a small cloth in a different color (initially it was done to cover torn clothes!). The small cloth was made to resemble an object so as to not look like covering a torn base. Artisans generally use their imagination and elements from day to day life to create the appliques.

The famous Jagannath temple of Puri known worldwide for its Ratha Yathra, gets its chariot covers as well as the 'chhathths' or umbrellas made from Pipili. They are exclusively made by Muslim master tailors every year specially for The Lord of the Universe, his brother and sister.

Lanterns in different shapes, sizes and colors!

We stopped by at Pipili on the way back from Puri - the village is a riot of colors!!! As you can see, the applique technique has been improvised and used in many day to day items. And here are some souvenirs we picked up :) The fish on a plate applique is the cutest!!

 

Trinkets from Pipili

Ilkal Saree with Kasuti Embroidery

Kasuti embroidery is traditionally done on a Ilkal saree, both (kasuti and ilkal) belonging to the state of Karnataka. In an Ilkal saree, the border and pallu are generally of a different material than the body. Mine was a gift from my mother-in-law and has a spun silk body and an art silk border/pallu.

What is so unique about the saree is the lovely hand embroidery. The Kasuti fits neatly on to a grid if you can imagine it!

Ilkal saree with Kasuti embroidery

This is a closeup of one of the elements in the pallu.

From wikipedia: "Different varieties of stitches are employed to obtain the desired pattern. Some of the stitches employed are Ganti, Murgi, Neyge and Menthe. Ganti is a double running stitch used for marking vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines, Murgi is a zig-zag stitch, Neyge is a running stitch and Menthe is a cross stitch resembling fenugreek seeds."

It is interesting to note how all the stitches mentioned have been used in my saree including the Ganti seen below.

The thread work is done so beautifully that it is hard to differentiate the front from the back!

I also found a nice write-up on Ilkal sarees here.

Kalamkari

Kalamkari, as the name means is art made with - 'Kalam' or कलम - pen. This is a product of Krishna district in Andra Pradesh. Only natural dyes are used and the process involves many washes before when the final product is ready.

More can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalamkari

Kalamkari Cotton

Mine is a tie and dye with a kalamkari pallu and blouse purchased at Kalakshetra. This 'sacred region of art' houses a craft unit which patronizes Kalamkari and handloom.

They also have a craft shop which is on my list of places to check out!