Colours of India - More Women at Work

India is such a riot of bright colours - women's sari and men's shirts.

But I have been focusing on women at work, so here are a few more from Jaipur.

Sweepers at Amber Fort

Village Spice Shopper

Village Henna Artist

Construction Site Worker

Blue and White Pottery Decorator

Matriarch of a Block Printing Family

Village Women - Restoration Workers at Amber Fort

Village Jewelery Maker

A Day Off for these women in the queue to get into Amber Fort

Metallic Block Printing in Jaipur

Today was off to another village for metallic block printing.

The huge block printing factory

Blocks for us to choose from

Mobile paint trays  - silver or gold?

I took my own fabric this time as I bought some indigo the day before 

and I love it with silver.

Then onto silver on white fabric under the watchful eye of the master.

I was really surprised how good the silver looked on the white fabric

and my printing was pretty perfect having had lots of practice over the week 

and with the master watching and making subtle corrections. He was such a gem.

The masters work - the best I have seen anywhere. 

Three block printing - three parts to the design with three colours.

Mud Block Printing in Jaipur

From the Jaipur Office

Yesterday we were off out to a small village that specializes in mud block

 printing called Dabu. This was so much fun.

Printing with mud - first design

Second one metre piece being printed

 Sprinkle the block with sawdust

This keeps the dye off even more than the mud resist

One design finished

Into the indigo dye vat

A sample straight out of the dye vat and below watching the colour change 

from greeny blue to blue

It goes even darker as the air oxidizes it.

Fabric drying in the sun

After printing we wandered around the village and felt totally immersed in Indian Village life

Women at Work in India

Once I started looking i wasn't as hard as I expected to find women at work.

I thought they would be mostly behind he scenes and I am sure that is still right.

But here are some that were happy to be photographed.

Jaipur Street Seller

Paper Maker

She is shining her pot in the sandy soil.

She is cooking our lunch at a Block Printing Factory.

Village Kantha Quilt Maker

Village Block Printer

Village artist restoring the old building's art work

Teacher at the village sewing school

Bollywood Actor

Block Printing in Jaipur

Welcome back to Incredible India.

We are having the most amazing time with lots of Block Printing Workshops 

interspersed with tourist stops.

Is this heaven or what?

Now onto Block Printing with the masters at work.

Then my turn under supervision and guidance of a master.

It was so great to have him checking each step I took and showing where I 

might be going wrong.

Once the background was done it was onto the blue flower blocks.

Then onto the second colour (pink) on the flowers.

Getting these lined up was the challenging part.

This is the final one metre piece printed.






Back soon from Incredible India.

Kantha Quilts

This is the Kantha Shop that we visited - piles and piles and piles of Kantha Quilts.

Some were bright

and a close up.

Some were block print style in indigo and red.

Some were soft colours. These were quite special. 

One layer of cream cotton and one layer of cream gauze.

One stitch quilts -  appliqued only.

Two stitch Quilts - applique with stitching and some stitching 

on the bigger gauze areas.

Then three stitch quilts - applique and two sections of gauze stitching.

The colour areas are a tick thread and fly stitch giving the colour.

This one is coming home.

City stitcher tidying up a quilt ready for me to buy.

Most of the stitchers were in the owners home village way 

up near the Pakistan Border.