Kalamkari
Kalamkari, which means ‘pen-worked’, is an exquisite multi step process for creating designs on textile as part of the painting process. Today Kalamkari process have been taken over by hand block prints. Finer details are being touched by special pens that are carrying natural dyes to do the lining and filling work. Colours such as red, black, brown, and violet are outlined with a mordant and then placed in a bath of alizarin. In this process, The cloth undergoes a stiffening process by being steeped in buffalo milk with astringents, which is then sun dried. After which it gets covered in wax, leaving out the parts to be dyed in blue and then placed in an indigo bath. The wax is then scraped off and the areas to be yellow or pale green are hand painted.
