Indian textiles et al

This is the last of the current series of posts introducing you to some of the wonders of India. Having left England on 2nd February we spent two weeks visiting the 'Golden Triangle' - that is Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. We had arranged a car and a driver through a company called 'India by Car and Driver' and this was fantastic. Our driver was wonderful and the car a large four by four which made driving on Indian roads a comfortable ride. The driver was very knowledgeable and obviously proud of his country, particularly Rajasthan where he was from. Having our own driver meant we could suit ourselves about how long we stayed anywhere and also meant we often went off the main tourist route.

One of the main reasons for going to India was to see the textiles I have been teaching about for years actually being produced. I loved every minute of it and the following is only a selection of the hundreds of photographs that I have (to say nothing about the fabric I brought home).

An example of vessels for hand dying; two pictures of the dye powders. The tray, in particular, looks very like the one currently sitting on my work table.

We went to Saranger, near Jaipur, to visit some dyeing and printing factories.

Wherever you looked in the village you seemed to see lengths of fabric drying in the sun.

This is how you would see fabric waiting to be tie dyed.

The man is untying tie dyed fabric in his shop in Jaipur.

We saw turbans being made from dyed fabrics.

The Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing in Jaipur was such a joy to visit. As well as an enormous range of fabrics and garments they have a large area where wood blocks are carved and fabric is printed.

I must admit I was very impressed at how these beautiful wooden blocks are created with such simple tools - not a laser cutter in sight.

In the factories blocks just sat in huge boxes under the printing tables.

Cloth is laid out on long tables and the repeat printing is just done by eye, no registration.

Here is my outline print of an elephant, colours were later added.

Here are just two photographs showing some printed fabric - I could write posts for the next year using the information I gleaned.

Although the area we were in is mainly famous for its hand block printing there was plenty of embroidery to be seen on clothing and in museums. At one time the use of beetle wing carapaces were very popular.

The Crafts Museum in Delhi had a fantastic collection of textiles from all over India. These two pieces were in the entrance to the textile section - some applique and some needlepoint.

The 'shisha' or mirrorwork was also beautiful - the left hand piece was in a museum and the umbrellas were for sale everywhere, these at the Amber Fort, Jaipur.

You could find exquisite metallic embroidery on saris, both being worn and on sale. The right hand photograph shows people buying embroidered braid.

Whilst in Saranger we also visited a paper making factory.

Shredded cotton jersey; pulp made from cotton and water; men using a deckle screen to remove a thin layer of pulp and turn onto a layer of muslin (this stack is then pressed to remove excess water); women separating the paper sheets from the muslin.

The paper can be made in a variety of colours, can be embossed or even have glitter added. The adhesive is screen printed onto the paper, is passed through a pile of glitter on the floor and is then laid out to dry. Even though we only walked past this process we had glitter on us for days.

To me, the most amazing thing was that all the carrier bags were folded by hand. The ladies on the right are making the handles.

 Jaipur is also famous for blue and white pottery so we visited one of those 'factories'. Once the pots have been thrown they are hand painted before being fired.

Here are some examples seen in the Albert Hall Museum in Jaipur.

There were other colours as well. Look at the marvellous patterns.

You will have seen from the photographs on the Indian posts that India is full of colour and pattern. For a textile artist it is a fascinating and truly inspiring place to visit. The people were lovely and very helpful, the sights and sounds were invigorating and I would definitely recommend a visit.

Bright and beautiful clothing

One of the things that I loved about India were the clothes that I saw being worn everywhere. The women were so colourful and graceful. The men tended to wear plain subdued clothes unless they were an entertainer or guard.

What I found most amazing was how many women were involved in construction work, road building etc and the fact that they still wore beautiful saris.

Apparently women who work in agriculture in Rajasthan wear yellow saris as these don't show the dirt as much as other colours. I have to say most of the women we saw in the countryside were wearing yellow.

The woman in the centre is mixing cement or mortar and was then rendering a wall. I was amazed at the weight of things women would carry on their heads.

The variety of colours and patterns on women's outfits were wonderful to see.

The woman on the bike with the baby is sitting side saddle and as you can see is not holding on or wearing a helmet. The two women on the lower pictures are sitting in 'shops' buying braid and saris.

The other time when men are as fancy as women is when they get married. We found a whole area in Old Jaipur that just sold wedding outfits and accessories - it was fantastic.

Surajkund Crafts Mela

One of the reasons we chose to visit India in February was because this special two week craft fair was taking place. Craft people from all over India and neighbouring countries come to exhibit their work. It is based about 20km from New Delhi. We stayed in a hotel just over the road from it which meant we could walk there (although crossing the road was interesting).

The quantity and variety of textiles on display was amazing.

The whole site was beautifully laid out and decorated. Birds, in particular were very popular.

I really loved the giant fabric flowers. I have made ones like this with florist wire and old tights but these were huge, nearly a metre across.

There was also plenty of entertainment - music, acrobatics and dancing.

Stockholm

You may have noticed that I quite like buildings - well Stockholm wins. It has the most amazing variety of buildings. We spent two days cycling round the city.

I love the variety of roof tops.The old city was very lovely too, all dark cobbled streets.

We went to the VASA museum which contains the resurrected ship from the 17th century. 98% of the ship is original. The preservation processes have destroyed the original colours but extensive research has found evidence of the colours and they have produced reproductions.

The pictures above are of the actual ship. The ones below are reproductions - sculptures are life size but the ship is a model.

These are the pigments that were used to paint the ship.

The ship sank on its maiden voyage and remained undisturbed for over 300 years. As well as lots of equipment quite a lot of clothing and footwear was found, even some of the sails were still folded up.

Boots and shoes

Remains of the main sail.