HAND & BLOCK PRINTED

TEXTILES

KALAMKARI OF ANDHRA PRADESH

KALAMKARI OF ANDHRA

PRADESH…….

INTRODUCTION

Kalamkari:

‘kalam’ means pen and ‘kari’

means work, literally pen work.

Hand painting as well as block

printing.

Done with vegetable dyes.

Can be dated back to 3000 years

Major centers in Andhra Pradesh:

Machilipatnam and Srikalahasti

HISTORY

Kalamkari craft is very old.

Reached its peak point in the Golconda sultanate,

Hyderabad, in the middle age.

Golconda ruler, Qutab Shahi wanted a strong trade

relationship with Persian

Empire.

Southeast Asian and

Indonesian markets

demanded Indian textiles

for ritual and ceremonial

use.

Machilipatnam became

famous – easy

export of goods from

Bandar port.

TWO DISTINCTIVE STYLES OF

PAINTING

SRIKALAHASTI MACHILIPATNAM

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE

TWO STYLES OF PAINTING

PARAMETERS SRIKALAHASTI MACHILIPATNAM

WORK METHOD WITH PEN OR BRUSH HAND BLOCK

PRINTING

COLORS INDIGO BLUE IS NOT

USED

INDIGO BLUE IS USED

AS SECONDARY

COLOR

MOTIFS FROM

MYTHOLOGICAL

TALES, IMAGES OF

GODS & GODESSES

PERSIAN & BRITISH

MOTIFS(BUDS,

FLORAL, LEAVES)

END PRODUCTS WALL HANGINGS &

DECORATIVE ITEMS

GARMENTS,

UPHOLSTERY &

LIFESTYLE PRODUCTS

SRIKALAHASTI STYLE….

Temples are the major inspiration.

The art can be predominantly seen in scrolls and

wall hangings.

It richly displays episodes from the Puranas,

Mahabharata, Ramayana, and other Mythological

stories.

The motifs are

restricted to Gods

such as Krishna,

Brahma, Ganesha,

Durga, Lakshmi,

Rama, Shiva and

Parvathi.

SRIKALAHASTI PAINTINGS

MACHILIPATNAM STYLE….

Machilipatnam or Masulipatnam designs are Iranian

in character with intricate and delicate forms.

The old traditional block prints with Persian motifs

like trees, creepers, flowers and leaf designs are used.

This style of Kalamkari is mainly done on bed

covers, curtains and also garments.

In the 19th century,

reached its peak and

even today it is largely

produced for Indians

and foreigners.

MACHILIPATNAM PAINTINGS

UNIQUENESS OF KALAMKARI

Use of natural dyes.

Intricate and delicate Persian motifs

Traditional blocks of teakwood used.

Perfect harmony and distribution of colors.

Natural dyes extracted from bark, flower and root are

used.

PATTERNS AND MOTIFS USED

Inspired from Persian art

Mainly floral motifs and paisleys

In case of durries, geometric motifs are used

GEOMETRIC FLORAL

Different forms of the lotus flower, the cartwheel, parrots & an interlacing pattern of leaves and flowers.

Animal forms and floral motifs - Middle-Eastern market.

Tree-of-life – bedcovers and dress material painted for the European market.

TREE OF LIFE PEACOCK

BLOCKS USED

Block made of Teak wood:

- Medium weight yet strong.

- Remains stable in erratic weather conditions.

- Can withstand heavy beating due to inherent

strength.

Types of blocks based on end use:

- Outline block – Massa, Reiki

- Filling block – Datta

- Background block –

Gadh, Kappu

WOODEN BLOCK

Types of blocks based on material:

- Wooden block

- Nail block

- Wax block

WAX BLOCK

NAIL BLOCK

TOOLS AND EQUIPMENTS

REQUIRED FOR KALAMKARI

earthen pots

plastic buckets/drums

copper vessels

nylon brush

color tray

squeezer

printing table

construction: neem or teak

wood

pen

hammer

PROCESS FLOW CHART FOR

KALAMKARI

GREY CLOTH CUTTING

NATURAL BLEACHING

MYROBALAM TREATMENT

PRINTING

WASHING

BOILING

STARCH APPLICATION

PAINTING

WASHING WITH SOAP

ALUM TREATMENT

GREY CLOTH CUTTING

Batches of 100 metres or above are purchased from

textile mills

It is then cut into pieces of length varying from 10 -15

metres.

GREY CLOTH

NATURAL BLEACHING

Pieces are beaten on stones and washed and spread on

floor with grass and water.

All pieces kept overnight.

Beating and spreading

operations repeated next

day morning.

All pieces washed well

and dried by afternoon.

MYROBALAM TREATMENT

Myrobalam seeds are powdered and about 25.30gms

of the powder is soaked in per litre of water overnight.

The juice is extracted in which the bleached cloth is

soaked uniformly for 25-30 mins.

The cloth is squeezed by hand & allowed to dry in sun.

The treatment is given so that the colors adhere to the

cloth.

MYROBALAM SEEDSMYROBALAM SOLUTION

PRINTING

The first step is the printing of the design outlines using

wooden blocks.

Black color is used for the outlines.

After applying black color on the outlines, the alum

paste is used on the cloth for getting red color wherever

required.

OUTLINE WITH BLACK COLOR

FOR OBTAINING BLACK COLOR

Removal of rust iron pieces

-Heating with cow dung

- scrubbing with bricks

Preparation of mixture

(iron + jaggery + water)

Left in closed earthen pots for 21 days

(stirred once in a week)

Solution + gum left for 1-2 days

Stirred, filtered and ready to use

MIXTURE IN POT

JAGGERY

RUST IRON PIECES

FOR OBTAINING RED COLOR

Roots of madder plant(powdered)

Alum + water + alizarin(powdered

madder roots)

Ready to use

Preparation time: 3-4 hrs

ROOTS OF MADDER PLANT

COLOR OBTAINED FROM MADDER

FOR OBTAINING BLUE COLOR

Water + crushed Alta seeds

Added to the dye tank

Water boiled in a separate

container, cooled overnight &

added to the dye tank

Paste + water + indigo dye cakes

added to the tank

Contents stirred & kept for a day

Lime is added & stirred

INDIGO DYE CAKES

LEAVES OF INDIGO PLANT

FOR OBTAINING YELLOW COLOR

Boiling of myrobalam flowers

in water to soften them

Cooling of solution

Filtering of solution

Addition of alum

Stirring the solution

MYROBALAM FLOWERS

WASHING

The printed cloth is washed in flowing water or in a

pond with fresh water.

Cloth is then squeezed and dried.

All mordants should be removed.

BOILING

Depending on the colors/shades required, the

dried cloth is boiled in copper vessels.

Washed well to remove impurities.

Left for drying.

Time: 45 mins for

boiling.

STARCH APPLICATION

Starch Solution( boiled rice water + fresh buffalo milk

To provide stiffness to the printed cloth.

It avoids spreading of second color paint.

COLOR PAINTING

Color is applied using brush (kalam) made up of date

palm sticks.

It is applied randomly between the motif /designs.

Green color is obtained

when painting over

indigo.

ALUM TREATMENT

To fix the yellow color permanently on the cloth.

The fabric is dried after treating with alum.

TREATMENT OF CLOTH WITH ALUM

WASHING WITH SOAP

Last and the final process.

The cloth is soaked in soap water and then washed

carefully.

It is dried in sunlight.

WASHING OF CLOTH DRYING OF CLOTH

PRODUCT RANGE

Dress material

Men’s kurta

Cushion

Handkerchief

Durries

Home furnishing etc.

VARIETY OF PRODUCTS

PRODUCT RANGE

VARIETY OF PRODUCTS

CONCLUSION

Targeted markets are both

export as well as domestic

market.

Local markets include Delhi,

Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata

and Mumbai.

Overseas exports include

U.S, U.K, China, Japan, Sri

Lanka, Bangladesh.

No means of advertisement.

THANK YOU