Sunday 25 March 2018

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

Friday 23 March 2018

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.

Thursday 22 March 2018

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

Wednesday 21 March 2018

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.

Saturday 17 March 2018

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.