India is the land of many spell-binding art forms and one of them is Kalamkari. It is named by a combination of two words - Kalam which means pen and Kari which translates to craft. The art form involves artists using a wooden pen to draw designs on a fabric. Some of the most famous products created through this art form are Kalamkari sarees. A striking feature of the process of making Kalamkari sarees is that the use of machines is not involved at all. From treating the fabric to adorning it with designs, everything is done by hand and because of that, it takes days to complete just one saree.
Kalamkari has its roots in South India in the state of Andhra Pradesh and dates back to at least 3000 years ago. Generations of craftsmen have spent their lives practicing and perfecting it and making this art what it is today. It is mainly done in Machilipatnam and Srikalahasti with the processes adopted in both the places being slightly different from one another. While wooden pens are used in Srikalahasti to create the outline of designs, hand-carved wooden blocks are used to print the outlines by Machilipatnam artisans. Breathtaking patterns of flowers, vines, trees, peacocks, parrots, etc are created on cotton and even silk fabrics by using natural dyes.
Apart from immense effort and time, a lot of raw materials and tools are used to bring Kalamkari sarees to life. Some of them are as follows -
The entire process of making a Kalamkari saree is quite lengthy and tedious. It consists of 23 stages but we will simplify it for you.
The fabric is soaked in a solution of buffalo milk, Myrobalan bud, and flower paste. This gives it an off-white color. The buffalo milk ensures that colors don’t spread on the fabric and Myrobalan ensures that the black dye sticks to the fabric. After treating it with the solution, the fabric is then left to dry.
Dyes are prepared using natural elements. For instance, the black dye used for outlining is made using iron pieces, jaggery, and alum. Yellow color is procured from pomegranate skin, while blue color is made from the Indigo plant. Once the dyes are ready, the kalam is prepared by chiseling a bamboo reed.
The fabric is spread on a wooden table and the kalam is dipped in the black dye first to draw patterns on it. When the outline is printed the cloth is washed again. Once the outline of the complete design is created, all the colors are filled in one by one. After application of every color, the cloth is washed to remove excess dye.
For the Machilipatnam style, a gunny cloth is spread on a wooden table with a damp cloth on top of it. The fabric is finally layered on it so that it doesn’t slip during the process. Printing is done in two steps. First, the background is printed and then the outline uses wooden hand-carved blocks.
After creating the outline of the design the colors are filled in and the saree is left in the open to dry for a period of at least 2-3 days. After the Kalamkari print is completely dry, extra color is strained out by washing the fabric under running water and then drying it again.
Kalamkari sarees are a part of the rich heritage of India. The fine craftsmanship implemented on them to create beautiful intricate designs makes them worthy of all the praise they get all over the world. Days of effort goes into creating these sarees. These hand crafted masterpieces deserve to be cherished and preserved.
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