I followed in the footsteps of my Norwegian knitting friend Toril who went on a printing workshop in Bagru. She had made me some fabulous lilac sheepskin cuffs with a gold printed flower stamp. I wear them all the time. Bagru is between two of our destinations so it was not difficult to fit in a 2 day outing to Bagru. I elected to stay overnight with the family in one of their rooms but Tanya headed back to Jaipur overnight for some R and R.
We were able to do three types of printing over the course of the 2 days. Firstly there was a tour to see how these crafts are being kept alive in this village. It seems everyone is involved.
Dabu Printing
This is like a batik. It is a resist printing using mud and other ingredients in place of wax. We saw it being done on our initial tour. I then did a scarf and 2 placemats. Tanya made a lovely bedspread. Once the mud has been printed on the fabric using the wooden blocks, sawdust is used to help dry and fix it. It is then dyed in vats. The dark blue one I used was indigo. Most of the other colours are lovely and rich. But they aren’t natural like the indigo (and a grey/brown colour).
Dyeing the cloth with indigo
Dabu printed placemats
Dabu printed scarf
Bagru Printing
This is a highly specialised printing technique which uses only 2 colours if natural dyes are used. Red and black. The fabric is first mordanted and then dryed. The dye is applied using hand carved wooden blocks. Once dry the fabric is boiled for 20 minutes. During this process the colour becomes enriched and is colour fast.
Block printing
The final type of printing we did was regular block printing using bright synthetic colours. We made rugs and printed them on both sides. And I did a large sheet with lots of purple animals and fruits/veggies. I plan to cut them up and probably “imprison” them later on!
My double sided rug
Pink hamzas and black elephants on white cloth
All purple printing
Elephants, camels, fish, rabbits, horses, frogs, cows, dinosaurs, peacocks, tigers, dolphins, marrows, pineapples, carrots, onions, garlic, aubergine, strawberries, apples, pears, tomatoes, chilis, peppers (23 – yeah, yeah, a prime number!)
Printing blocks
I watched these being made and bought a machine made one (the hamza) and a hand made one (an elephant). They can be seen above in pink and black respectively.
