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.

Street scenes

One of the things that constantly amazed me throughout our trip was the variety and amount of items carried through the streets.

Gas canisters were frequently just balanced on the back of bikes and often four or five were carried at a time

We saw fresh milk from the farms arriving by cart, electrical goods being carried by rickshaw and masses of fabric traveling by lorry, bike, cart etc

People were carried in buses, tuc tuc's, on lorries and resting on top of cargo

The strangest was a pig on the back of a bike

As we walked through the narrow streets we saw lots of activities going on at the side of the road. A barbers, a man making metal dishes and a man mending a leather jacket whilst his customer waited.

This man is pressing some suit trousers that he has just made. The middle picture shows a typing school where you can learn to touch type and also to use a computer. Whilst on the right he is sharpening a knife.

The man was in a village making unglazed cups that are used once and thrown away. The middle picture shows the type of brush used by everyone to sweep clean their own areas. The right hand picture shows people stringing together flowers to make garlands.

We saw lots of animals on the streets. Camels, in particular, were seen a lot in Rajasthan.

 We didn't see many elephants except for the elephant jam at Amber Fort in Jaipur. We also went to the elephant village where all the elephants return after finishing work at 11.30 am. Everywhere we went there were loose cows, even on the main roads in the big cities - they have right of way.

The left picture below show the amazing electrical system in Old Delhi and the right one shows bamboo scaffolding on a new building in Jaipur.

There were so many interesting things for sale, I thought I would just give you a taste: mattresses (quilts) filled with raw cotton; ceramic pots; colourful puppets;

pots and pans; chain of all different sizes, including those to restrain elephants; offerings on sale outside most temples.

Here are three general street scenes.

Fresh food

Everywhere we travelled we saw plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables for sale. They were always well displayed. All the carrots we saw were red rather than orange. Most of the vegetables were familiar although there were more mooli radish than you would see at home.

Every morning, between 10 am and 10.30 am, farmers would arrive from outside the cities to sell their produce.

Pulses and spices were an expected sight and were full of wonderful colours and textures ...

... the huge variety of pasta was not expected. We saw more varieties of pasta than of rice or bread products like naan and chapati.

We also saw many people making sweets which again were on sale everywhere.

Some of the most amazing sights were watching people (mainly men) cooking take away food by the side of the street. You walked close past open flames to buy your breakfast, lunch or snacks.

Here is an example of the sort of lunch that we enjoyed.

Of course what I cannot convey are the wonderful smells that all this food produced.

Cooking and henna

One day in Jaipur we joined our driver and his wife for the day. First of all they gave me a cooking lesson, then they dressed me in Indian clothes and hennaed my hands. In the evening we went to the cinema.

On the way to the house the driver stopped and bought all the fresh vegetables needed for the meal. The top right photo shows me adding the vegetables for the curry. The bottom left is me kneeling on the floor sieving flour for the chapatis. Making these caused much amusement, especially when I managed to catch one on fire. The bottom right is the finished meal. It was very tasty although a little unnerving to eat as everyone stood around and watched us.

After lots of looking through a book of designs the henna was applied, it was quite difficult to wash it off. The picture on the left shows me ready to go out to the cinema. The henna darkened until it was a dark brown and lasted just over a week.

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.