Kalamkari is an ancient style of hand painting done on cotton or silk fabric with a pen, using natural dyes. The word Kalamkari is derived from the Persian word ‘kalam‘ means pen and Kari‘ means craftsmanship. The art dates back to more than 3000 B.C. The fabric samples depicting Kalamkari art was found at the archeological sites of Mohenjo-Daro.
The process of making Kalamkari involves 23 steps. The natural process includes from bleaching the fabric, softening it, sun drying, preparing natural dyes, hand painting, to the processes of air drying and washing, the entire procedure is a process which requires precision and detail.
The cotton fabric used for Kalamkari is first treated with a solution of cow dung and bleach. After keeping the fabric in this solution for hours, the fabric gets a uniform beige color. After this, the cotton fabric is immersed in a mixture of buffalo milk and Myrobalans which help in fixing of colour and avoids smudging of dyes in the fabric as it is painted with natural dyes. Later, the fabric is washed under running water to get rid of the odor of buffalo milk. The fabric is washed twenty times and dried under the sun. Once the fabric is ready for painting, artists sketch motifs and designs on the fabric.
To create design contours, artists use a bamboo/tamarind or date palm stick pointed at one end like a pen. This pen is soaked in a mixture of fermented jaggery, iron filings powder, and water and used as outlining the designs. The Kalamkari artists prepare dyes using natural sources to fill colors within the drawing. Primarily the artists use natural colors like indigo, mustard, rust, black and green. Natural dyes are extracted from natural sources. The dyes are obtained by extracting colors from various roots, leaves, and mineral salts of iron, tin, copper, and alum. Black color is obtained by blending jaggery, water, and iron filings which they essentially use for outlining the sketches. Mustard or yellow is derived by boiling pomegranate peels, red hues are created from the bark of madder or algirin plants, blue is obtained from indigo a natural dye extracted from the plant (Indigofera Tinctoria) and green is derived by mixing yellow and blue together.
Motifs drawn in Kalamkari spans from birds, leaves, flowers, peacock, paisleys to divine characters of Hindu epics. This art is flourished in the south in Andhrapradesh primarily Machilipatnam and Srikalahasti area.
Kalamkari fabrics are always in trend. It is one of the prominent fabrics embraced by many. The fashion designers are creating new designs in accordance with the current fashion trends to accommodate and cater them from daily wear to occasional wear.
The women SHGs (Self Help Groups) supported by SERP (Society For Elimination of Rural Poverty) are into the business of making Kalamkari fabrics and many variants like (Sarees, Dress materials, pouches, Handbags, Jackets, Wall paintings, Purses, Home decor Wall plates, etc.) to name a few.
Kalgudi in collaboration with SERP-AP has brought their products on-line thus introducing the artisans to the digital market. Kalgudi has listed their products capturing intricate details, traceability, bulk order facilitation, etc. The products are live on Kalgudi, hence receiving orders from various geographical locations. Kalgudi thus created an alternate revenue stream for the rural women artisans. The payments are processed through Kalgudi secure payment gateway thus facilitating on-time payments. Customer support team facilitates the smooth delivery of the product by informing the status of the product and the tracking details through regular SMS. Kalgudi continues to empower rural women in sustaining their livelihood.
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