Here we are, back from our second buying trip in Jaipur. I thought this time I’ll tell you a little more about the colours you see on your lovely Anokhi clothes and other items. Here is some information we have found at Anokhi, Jaipur.
INDIGO
Traditionally indigo came from the leaves of the plant ” Indigo Fera Tintoria” which was cultivated throughout the tropics. Towards the end of the 19th century, however, increasing demand for the due led to the development of a synthetic version. The only difference between the two being the absence of impurities in the latter.
A typical indigo vat is like a bulging narrow mouthed pot, about 10-15 feet deep and sink into the floor of covered area. The contents are like a living organism, and must be continuously nurtured.
When a new vat is started it is filled to about 1/4 of it’s capacity with a thick sandy dye-liquid that has been retained from previous vat. Indigo, slaked lime, & molasses are added and the whole thing is topped up with water. For the next two weeks the , when vat is fed daily with these ingredients, until it begins to look and feel ready. Finally, about 20 days after starting, when it is judged perfect, dyeing can begin.
In order to create a pattern, areas of cloth have to be prepared to resist the dye. This is usually done by block printing with a paste that prevents the dye from penetrating the fabric, but other methods such as tie-dye are also used.
The resist paste is made by mixing earth, slaked lime, gum, fine powder obtained from the action of insects on stored wheat, and water. This mixture is pressed through cloth to give a smooth viscous adhesive paste.
As each length is printed is it dusted with sawdust to stop it from smudging before it is totally dry. The printed cloth is then dried in the sun before dipping in the vat.
As the cloth is drawn out it looks greenish , but on exposure to the air the indigo oxidises and regains it’s original blue state.
Each time the cloth is dipped and exposed to the air a darker shade of blue is achieved. Often the cloth is reprinted with a different block to resolve patterns in a lighter blue before dipping again.
When the cloth is the desired shade of blue, it is washed to remove resist paste and any excess indigo that has not adhered to the cloth.
Finally, after about 6 months of use the vat has to be emptied and cleaned due to the accumulation of sand & dirt, and the whole process starts again.
NATURAL GREEN
The simple effectiveness of the colour green belies the elaborate process involved in it’s creation. A mixture of creative flair and the skillful application of indigo, pomegranate and turmeric combine to produce this lively and enigmatic colour. A brief look at the process involved unravels some of it’s mysteries.
The first stage is to remove impurities from the raw cloth. Once it has been soaked, boiled and beaten the cloth is ready to take the design. Wooden bloks are dipped into a resist paste ( a viscous mud-like paste) before being stamped on to the fabric. The paste masks the design and prevents the dye from penetrating thought to the cloth. Sawdust and wheat chaff is dusted on to the paste throughout the block-printing process to avoid smudging.
After the cloth has dried in the sun, it is repeatedly immersed in the indigo vat until the desire shade is achieved ( for more details on the indigo process as described above). Exposure to air and repeated immersions effect the intensity of the blue which, in turn, affects the final tone of the green.
The paste may be left on the cloth to retain the initial design for the next stage, or must be removed and re-applied with different blocks. This then creates further patterns as new areas of the cloth are covered.
To achieve the green colour, the yellow dye is pasted by hand to the remaining areas of exposed cloth. A mixture of boiled pomegranate rind and turmeric gives the dye it’s particular hue and brings the change from blue to green.
The cloth is then passed through a solution of alum to strengthen the yellow dye, and cured in the sun before the final washing, which cleans the resist paste and renders the process complete.
urmeric and pomegranate dyes on cloth are fugitive and indigo gradually fades with time. As you wash your item dyed by this traditional process , the colour will gradually change , becoming more blue, less yellow and softer in hue. Strong sunlight fastens fading, so we recommend drying in the shade. Because the action of indigo is mechanical rather then chemical, sometimes excess molecules are rubbed free during initial usage and appear to colour whatever they rub against. If this happens they can easily be removed by normal washing.
