Wishesh Magazine November_2018 Wishesh Magazine November 2018 | Page 17

embellishment to the gold
brocade work in the woven
fabric, which was used as
sarees & dhotis by the royal
family during the period of Raja
Sarfoji and later Raja Shivaji.
Materials and Techniques
The materials and techniques
for making the two types of
kalamkaris are similar. In
Srikalahasti, the cotton cloth
is first washed with water
thoroughly to remove starch
and other oily substances.
After drying, the cloth is dipped
into buffalo milk mixed with
myrobalan fruit dust, and then,
after squeezing out the excess
solution, it is dried again. Next,
the initial drawing is done with
charcoal pencil made from
burnt twigs of the tamarind
tree. For colouring, a pen
made of bamboo is used.
One side of the bamboo stick
is carved to get a sharp tip.
Near this tip, a piece of cotton
cloth is wrapped and then
tied with thread. The solution
for drawing the outline is
locally called “kasim” and is
made by adding 500 grams
of sugarcane jaggery, 100
grams of palm jaggery and 1
kilogram of rusted iron into 10
litres of water. The solution
is kept for around twenty one
days before it is used. The
bamboo pen is dipped into
kasim, gently squeezed to
release the liquid and then
used for drawing. A piece of
cotton is kept at hand to blot
the excessive ink from the
surface. In the area that has
to be painted red, initially
a solution of alum water is
applied with a blunt pen.
Generally, the background of
these textiles is painted red.
To get maroon, instead of
red, a small amount of kasim
is added to this solution.
Separately, alizarin solution
is prepared using 50 grams
of alizarin diluted into water
(for around 6 metres of cloth)
and then added to around
15 litres of boiling water.
The cloth, drawn with kasim
and alum solution is dipped
into the hot water and kept
for around 45 minutes. The
textiles are then washed in
the river Swarnamukhi which
is nearby. The river is shallow
which makes it suitable for
washing. After the process,
the cloth is dried and again
dipped into buffalo milk.
For yellow, the dust of ripe
myrobalan fruit, mixed with
alum solution is used. For
orange, chvalkodi and alizarin
is mixed with the myrobalan-
alum mixture. For blue, indigo
is used. After this, the cloth is
washed again in water before
it is finally ready for use.
In Machilipatnam, the
washing of the cotton fabrics
is done at the Kalia Canal.
Then a process similar to
the one described above is
used. In Machilipatnam, for
the block printed textiles, line
drawings are not necessary.
The textiles produced here
can be monochromatic or
polychromatic and for each
colour, separate blocks
are used. The manufacture
of these textiles is a
collaborative process. The
whole unit is divided into
several sub-units. The
first sub-unit is the block
maker’s workshop where
the artisans are mostly from
the carpenter’s community.
For making the blocks, a
cross section of teakwood
is generally used. Blocks
are carved using the relief
process, where the positive
area, which has the design
that will be transferred onto
the cloth, rises above the
sunken negative area. In
the printing sub-unit, the
colouring process usually
starts with the outlines and
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