Sanganer is about 16 kms from Jaipur, very close to the Airport. Our aim was to see how world famous hand printed textiles are made. We walked down the main market and found only shops. We were told that hand made textiles were made in small units with re
Briefly manufacturing process is – grey cotton fabric comes from Mumbai, Kishangarh and South. It is bleached white with help of dye, then cloth is cut into pieces and printing is done. Designs that we see on bed sheets are made by making wooden blocks an
After the drawing is replicated on wood Sharmaji digs into the wood to bring out the actual design. Blocks are made on Sheesham wood. Sharmaji is a Jehangid Brahmin.
The results of Sharmaji’s chipping is what you see, a usable Block.
We went to two textile-printing units. You see a worker block in hand, color box on left side of picture, imprinting design on white cloth.
Similar work being done. White dyed fabric being imprinted with local design. This unit was a larger one with about 20 workers and was situated on the first floor. The Chhipa owner lived on the ground floor, see on right of picture. I asked him whether bi
This is unit number 2, a smaller unit where Manoj, his wife & sister did all the work. The women did the printing & Manoj the manual work. Here the women are printing a Salwar kameez ka thann.
What you see is large scale screen printing unit, workers are Devnarayan and Aadesh Kumar both very particular that we got their names right. Designs are their own or customized. Production is about 700-800 sheets per day, much higher than hand printing.
This picture gives you an idea of the size of a screen-printing unit shed.
We also visited a Blue Pottery Making factory. The raw material is quartz, glass for strength and gum for elasticity. You see owner of the factory Bhupender holding a piece of quartz. All the three ingredients are ground and made into a powder.
Powder is then made into dough as you see. Press the dough flat like a chapatti and then put in a mould for the needed shape of pottery ie cup, vaz etc. Next put ash into the mould. You see worker Suraj applying the dough on the mould.
Then pull out the cast and dry it in the sun for sometime. Prepare a liquid solution with glass powder and dip the object in it. Scrub with sandpaper for smooth finished look. Then do a free hand drawing with brush. Fill color into the drawing. Dip it int
Then bake in a furnace – 900 degree C for 6-7 hours till colors appear and change. It takes about 3 days for furnace to cool down and finished product to be removed from it. In case of making a beak this is made on a rotating plate (chaak). Differe
We were impressed with the finished product and the in-depth knowledge of factory owner Bhupender. He sells his produce in the local and export markets. The name of his co is Shiv Kripa Blue Art Potteries. Contacts are: shiv_kirpa@rediffmail.com", shiv_ki