Daubed Textiles

As an expression of human emotion and intellect ,we human beings create images of colloquial and special moments of life, in various forms , mediums and surfaces . Prehistoric people created images on walls on caves and painted their primitive costumes also on various subjects. A region wise brief overview shows : Native American dress material of buffalo-hide contained crude paintings on sign-language patterns as well as ceremonial patterns. One of the most striking of all daubed textiles are the Bogolanfini mud cloth of Mali. These are decorated with geometric patterns in white on a black background. Mostly dyed cloths are resisted by river mud patterns. The exposed area is bleached with natural bleaching agents to create motifs.

Painted Textiles

Painting on textiles is a style mostly used to prepare pieces of textiles for religious, educational, documentation or publicity purpose. Rarely this type of fabric styling was used for dress material traditionally. The style of fabric painting as a tradition is richest in India. In Rajasthan painted textiles are used as a backdrop and supporting document for telling folklores. A Mata-ni-pachedi is a special decorative cloth for temples in western India , depicting legends of Devi Durga. Southern American regions of Ecuador or Columbia has heritage of painting textiles.

A painted bark cloth from Columbia

A Mata-ni-pachedi from Gujrat

A Bhilwara textile piece Depicting Pabuji folklore.

Pen Work (Kalamkari)

The Persian word kalamkari for the pen-worked textiles from India proves popular demand of these type of textiles not only within India but at abroad as well. These textiles were exported as value added trade items from south-east coast of India to Persia and Europe since late 16th century. After Mughol empire and later during European invasions this trade was taken over by the foreigners.

A kalamkari fabric imported from India used As persian prayer cloth with patterns inspired By Persian mythology.

An important event of Mahabharata depicted in a Kalamkari work from Andhra Pradesh

Woodblock Printing
Taking impression of a natural shape on the fabric surface with the help of natural dyes, pigments or mordant has been practiced all over the world since early part of human civilization. Printing fabric with pre-curved wooden blocks were mastered by craftsmen in Indian subcontinent. This is considered to be one of the cheapest and quickest process of fabric designing all over the world. Though the traditional woodblock printing has made way for mechanised modern printing techniques , still in parts of India and some pockets of Africa , the process is still alive. Bagh printing of Madhya Pradesh is one such glorious wood block printing heritage which is being rescued from the brink of extinction by NIFT.

An woodblock printed yardage from Bagh , Madhya Pradesh

A piece of Adinkra cloth from Ghana

Polychrome Woodblock Printing

Basic art of woodblock printing was developed in monochrome. Later in various part of India and central Asia the art of using multiple synchronised blocks was mastered. This multiple block technique actually helped to introduce different colours as can be seen in polychrome woodblock printing. This was one of the very few mass production process successfully developed in India until they were overwhelmed by competition from English and Scottish factories in the 18th and 19th centuries. Since then the Indian woodblock printed cloth had satisfied a global demand for cheap printed cloth.

Stenciling
Stenciling is a widespread technique used either to implant a design directly, or to apply starch in the dyeresist process. The Japanese perfected this stenciling technique as early as 8th century . Their specialty of stenciling became famous as katazome. This was the mother process of the present day hugely popular screenprinting process. Some other parts of the world has also seen some advent of this process, like Afghanistan and India.

Resist Printing
Resisting certain preselected parts of the fabric from taking up colour while rest of the fabric is getting dyed and thus creating patterns, is the basic principle of resist printing. This simple yet versatile technique has fascinated human imagination and has been widely practiced all over the world. To achieve desired resist effect different types of techniques are adopted at different parts of the world; and accordingly the processes are known. When certain portion of the fabric are tied by some kind of thread or tape which wont allow dye penetration while rest part of the fabric is getting dyed is known as tie and dye. (continued)

A stenciled adire eleko, from Nigeria showing king George V & Queen Mary In 1935 when Silver Jubilee celebrations of their coronation took place all over the world.

a) Tie and Dye

The technique of resisting by tying fabrics together in different patterns is practiced all over the world in slightly varying forms; giving rise to some distinctive patterns of their own. In (bandhni) India and (plangi) Indonesia the fabrics are gathered around fingertips and tied where as in (shibori)Japan vary delicate patterns were produced by tying tiny bunches with grains of rice inside the hold. In west African region stones or sticks were used to control shapes. By repeating tie & dye process a number of times, using different dye each time, a multi-coloured effect is achieved. In Indonesia this is known as plangi (rainbow). Presently advent of information spread and trade has seen techniques being cross adapted all over the places. Indian Bandhni style of resist became so popular that it has become colloquial by the term bandanna, which entered English language dictionary as the word for spotted kerchief.

A womans stole in tie-n-dye from Tajikistan

A womans stole in tie-n-dye from Rajasthan ( Bandhni)

Stitched Resist
Stitched resist, like tie and dye, prevents dye reaching parts of the cloth. In Indonesia this technique is known as tritik and in Nigeria as adire alabere. It is a commonly used technique in Japan, Indonesia and West African countries of Senegal, Mali, the Gambia, Sierra Leon, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Cameroon. In some places of Indonesia (Sumatra) effects are produced in combination of some other resist technique along with stitched resist technique, the process is called Selendangs.

A salendang from Sumatra, here the dot patterns have been Tied but the egg shapes and the linear motifs are stitched.

An indigo resisted shirt from Cameroon, to produce such an Elaborate pattern, the fabric has been embroidered with raphia To resist the dye and the stitches then removed to expose The un dyed cloth.

Leharia and Mothara

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Marwaris , the dominant business community of Rajasthan and India, wore elaborately tied, brightly coloured turbans as their distinguishing mark. These turbans were made by the leharia technique. This process is continued to be practiced in the dyeing quarters of Jodhpur, Jaipur , Udaipur and Nathdwara. Long length or turban cloths are folded first in usual width and across fold . Then the folded fabric is rolled diagonally, ties are placed at intervals and the roll is dyed. This way wavy resist lines are produced on the cloth, known as leharia. In case of mothara the long turban fabrics are folded diagonally from one corner. Ties are placed at regular intervals, dyed then unfolded and the process is repeated from the opposite corner, hence check patterns are produced. Mothara Leharia

Starch-Resist

In Nigeria and Japan starch is used as a resist medium for designs on cloth to be dyed with Indigo. In Nigeria the starch is applied by hand. The starch is derived from either cassava or cornflower and known as lafun or eko. The starch is applied on the whole cloth and after drying the patterns are scrapped on the surface of the fabric, then the whole cloth is indigo died. Since the starch applied is not completely impermeable so the patterns assume some amount of dye and the appearance of the cloth is light blue motifs on dark indigo background. The technique has a similarity to Indonesian batik because the motifs are derived in negative.

Starch Resist
A Tsutsugaki
In Japan the starch resisting was very popular and the application and patterning was done either by hand or by stenciling. The process is known as tsutsugaki if the starch is applied by hand . If the starch is applied by stencil then the process is known as katazome. The starch used is made of rice and known as tsutsu.

A Katazome

Wax Resist
The application of a wax-resist before dyeing to form a pattern in negative is most often referred to by the Javanese word batik. Batik is practiced in India, Srilanka, China, South-East Asia, Turkey and WestAfrica, but in Indonesia, on the island of Java, the craft has been brought to an acme of refinement. Nowhere else has wax-resist cloth been so finely detailed. The origins of batik are obscure, but what is certain is that the Javanese invention of the canting waxing instrument enabled the finest hand drawn batik to be produced. In Java in the middle of the 19th century a very new technique of wax resisting was evolved where engraved copper plates in the line of early European printing blocks were used to create negative pattern before resisting.

An Indonesian Batik

A Printed Wax Resist From Java