The Culture Central

Wood block making is an interesting art to learn or to pick up as a hobby. The blocks which are used to make colorful prints on fabrics and other surfaces, are made by some really hard working hands who know how to work with precision. A small mistake can ruin the pattern and that's why they are called experts in their area.

Hand carved wooden blocks, in Bagru village of Rajasthan. Most block maker artisans are doing this work for generations. With changing world and with new means of communications new generation of block makers is able to do business in India and abroad with a lot more ease. 

Once the wooden block is made and tested, it is ready for printing. The print on the picture is not complete yet. With the help of a ready block, a plain fabric is painted with glue and then husk is spread over the glue which not dried yet.

What is Slow Fashion

According to Wikipedia, the slow movement (sometimes capitalised Slow movement or Slow Movement) advocates a cultural shift toward slowing down life's pace. It began with Carlo Petrini's protest against the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Piazza di Spagna, Rome in 1986 that sparked the creation of the slow food movement.

Kalamkari is the earliest and one of the most complex techniques of fabric printing using vegetable dyes and minerals. According to Wikipedia, Kalamkari or Qalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile, produced in parts of India. The word is derived from the Persian words kalam (pen) and kari (craftmanship), meaning drawing with a pen.

The art of Bandhej or Bandhani is a highly skilled process requiring time and patience. This technique of dyeing fabric involves tightly tying textiles using wires, threads, stones, grains like cereals, rice etc.When fabric is dipped into color and allowed to dry, it gives miraculous results after un-tying it.