Kalamkari is a traditional form of hand-painted or block-printed textiles originating from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. This form of textile printing is known for its intricate designs, which are inspired by Hindu mythology and temple art.
These beautiful Kalamkari prints are created only on pure cotton fabric with hand-carved wooden blocks. The blocks are designed by artisans first on paper, and then later transferred and carved by hand into the final printing block(s).
Kalamkari is the earliest and more complex techniques of block-printing on cloth using vegetable dyes. This flourished at Masulipatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The origin of the word kalamkari is from kalam or pen and kari or work. The kalamkari done here is a mixture of painting and hand-printing.
Kalamkari originated in the modern-day states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana several hundred years ago. It was first used to portray scenes from sacred texts such as the Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagavatam. These paintings were often displayed as decorative backdrops in temples, depicting the stories of deities.
The colours used in Kalamkari are exquisite earthy tones of reds, blues, greens, yellows and browns. Women are depicted in shades of yellow, gods in blue and demons in red and green. The use of synthetic dyes is strictly forbidden and thus every colour is procured using natural means.
A total of 23 steps are required to be followed to make the art of Kalamkari come to life. These steps are dyeing, bleaching, hand painting, block-printing, starching, cleaning, fixation and more. Kalamkari represents Motifs like peacock, flora, and depictions from Hindu epics like Ramayana and Mahabharta.
It is among the most beautiful traditional Indian art forms and involves block printing or hand printing, typically done on pieces of cotton fabrics. The unique feature of the Kalamkari art is that it makes use of only natural colours or vegetable dyes.
Kalamkari fabrics tend to feature more earthy tones; reds, oranges, browns and blues - this is due to the use of vegetable dyes in the production of the fabrics. Not only is this better for the environment as chemicals are not being flushed out into water bodies but it is also a more sustainable method of production.
(This blogpost is a part of BlogChatter's #BLOGCHATTERA2Z2023)
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