Hand block printed Kota Doria Dupatta

Description

About the Craft: Bagru printers use a technique called dabu in which a mixture of black clay, acacia gum, spoiled wheat flour, limestone, and cow pies is printed onto the fabric. The fabric can then be dyed and left in the sun to dry. When the dabu is washed out the printed portions of the fabric are left undyed. Despite availability of synthetic dyes, the village has kept up its tradition of using natural dyes alive. These dyes include indigo blue, madder root red, pomegranate yellow, harda yellow, syahi black, and a green obtained by mixing harda and indigo.
About the Artisan: Meena Kumari Chhippa, is a Hand Block Artisan from Bagru, a village located west of Jaipur, the capital City of Rajasthan. Bagru has long been home to the Chippa Community, a caste dedicated to the art of hand block printing. It’s clay rich soil and hot, arid climate have for four centuries provided it with the perfect conditions for its unique style of printing.The art of chapa (block printing) gave them the name Chhippa. Meena started practising the craft 11 years ago after her marriage, learning through keen observation. She leads a group of 30-33 women (some of who even work from their homes) and 20-25 men engaging them in the craft.