Kalamkari

Kalamkari

From the very first representation of Kalamkari art as religious paintings, depicting Indian gods and goddesses to get recognition during the Mughal dynasty’s reign, and till today when Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of Kalamkari; this art has come a long way.

Kalam – Bamboo pen is an essential tool used in the printing process. This is made of bamboo reed. A cotton cloth is rolled over the reed, and a cotton thread tangles it. Two types of kalams are made for outlining and colour filling processes. The cotton cloth is utilized for cloth printing and is locally called Gaada.

Vegetable dyestuffs like Myrobalan flower (Karakapuvvu locally) are used to make the black dye permanent. Chavalakodi and suruduchekka are the two types of roots procured from local forest areas grounded into powder to obtain red colour. Pomegranate skin is used to obtain light yellow colour.  Alum is the mordant used in dyeing process. Khatta – is the substance boiled to obtain lighter red colour.

Kasim Kaaram– Iron black colour solution is prepared using rusted iron fillings, cans jaggery, and palm jaggery. These elements are dissolved in water in a closed earthen pot and left for fermentation.

Indigo blue is one of the most ancient natural dyes obtained from Indigo leaves mixed with locally available sand near river banks and allowed to settle and then filtered. The filtered solution is mixed with indigo leaves and left for around 21 days. If the process is done less or more, the output of indigo blue is either dull or too dark. So 21 days is the appropriate time for the right shade of Indigo blue.

The tools are raw materials used to produce traditional Kalamkari printing and primary handmade and natural materials.


THE MAKING

The process of making Kalamkari involves 23 steps. From the natural process of bleaching the fabric, softening it, sun drying, preparing natural dyes, hand painting to the methods of air drying and washing, the entire procedure is a process that requires precision and an eye for detailing.


The cotton fabric used for Kalamkari is treated with a solution which is a mixture of water, cow dung, and bleach. After keeping the material in this solution for hours, the fabric gets a uniform off-white colour.

After this, the cotton fabric is immersed in a mixture of buffalo milk and Myrobalans. This avoids smudging dyes in the material when it is painted with natural dyes.

Later, the fabric is thoroughly washed under running water to get rid of buffalo milk’s odour.  The material, likewise, is washed twenty times and dried under the sun.


Once the fabric is ready for painting, artists sketch motifs and designs on the material. Post this; the Kalamkari artists prepare dyes using natural sources to fill colours within the drawings.

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