KALAMKARI BLOCK PRINTING PROCESS:

Stages:

There are seven stages in the Kalamkari Block Printing Process:

  • 1st stage De-Sizing.
  • 2nd stage Myrobalam application to fabric.
  • 3rd stage 1st colour Outlining and Alum printing.
  • 4th stage Gum removal Washing.
  • 5th stage Developing Colours in boiling.
  • 6th stage printing 2nd colours.
  • 7th stage Gum removal washing.

The dyes and raw materials used are as follows:

Rust iron, jaggery, alum, alizarin, anaar, Myrobalam, manjista, indigo, Arabic gum, gum trees bark, jaaji leaves.

Myrobalam seeds
Rust Iron
Jaaji Leaves
Pomegranate Shell(Anaar)
Arabic Gum
Alum
Indigo
Manjista
Moduga Flower
Ratan Joth

To know all the printing Process first of all we know about the colour
development and preparation of natural dyes.

Mainly in our Kalamkari block printing process using natural dyes we are
limited to few colours.

Main Dyes are:

Black, Brown, Alum, Mustard Yellow, Indigo, Red, Green, Grey, Light Pink.

Preparation of Dyes:

To prepare Natural black dye we first take the rusted iron and jaggery, which, both are in purest form. First burn the iron to make into rusted form and thoroughly washes them to remove any impurities. Mix both rusted iron and jaggery in water and ferment them for at least 21 to 30 days depending upon the weather conditions in an earthen pot. Filter the prepared solution with a cloth into other pot after the fermentation is complete.

Alum is a crystal, as it is in rock form we crush the crystal into powderand boil in the water for 45 minutes to one hour to form the solution. Alumacts as a mordant. This alum which is printed turned into different coloursdepending upon the boiling method we do.

To achieve this colour we mix alum and black solution in 1:6 ratios. Note this is reactable to Myrobalam; it turns into darker shade upon days.

Actually the red colour is achieved only in boiling with manjista or alizarin (azo free dye). Also to get red outline we mix alizarin with alum and print.

To develop Indigo for printing first we grind the indigo cakes into powder and boil in hot water with the help of mix of caustic soda and hydro’s (food grade) to reduce indigo and to enhance the indigo respectively. This indigo dye has to be developed every day because it oxidises easily to open air. Using Indigo we achieve two shades of it light and dark.

To extract yellow (mustard colour): we boil the pomegranate peel which is in dry form in water and filter the waste using a cloth.

Green we get from mixing yellow and black solution with 1:4 ratios.

We get grey from black solution which was prepared, by diluting black dye with Myrobalam water.

We get this light pink colour from alizarin (azo free dye). We mix alizarin with alum solution to achieve the colour.

Note: as all the colours are prepared from water we have to add gum for thickening it depending upon the print we mix guar gum either loosely or more.

Please to spread the art of kalamkari block printing process we are giving this knowledge that we know till now. The process may vary depending upon the raw materials quality and the proportions may change.

Printing Process:

Depending upon the requirement the fabric is cut. As the fabric which we get from the mill or handloom has starch or chemical starch. Unless we remove starch from the fabric we cannot do any application or printing. So to remove it we do the natural bleaching. For this, the fabric is soaked in water for one night in the pond. After soaking for one night the fabric is thoroughly washed and beaten. After that the fabric is dipped in cow dung solution kept for a while and washed thoroughly. Now the fabric is soft and free from starch and impurities which helps in application of dyes and printing.
After the fabric is removed from starch now it is ready for application of Myrobalam. Myrobalam seeds or powder is soaked in water overnight and filtered the next day. Now the fabric from DE starching is dipped into this solution and squeezed excess solution and is dried in hot sun. In this process we give fabric the tanning, which helps in holding the dye when we print and also when we develop the colour in boiling.
After the application of Myrobalam the fabric is ready for first colour printing. In this stage we start printing the outlining and background colours as per the requirement. We generally print with black, brown, alum dyes.
Now the fabric is ready for gum removal washing. As we said that every colour is developed with water, in the dye we mix guar gum for thickening the solution, this helps dye to stick to the fabric. Unless the gum is removed from the fabric we cannot develop colours in the boiling. So we wash the fabric. The fabric is washed in flowing waters in the river, which the flowing water removes the excess colour and gum present on the fabric along with water. And after washing the cloth is dried in the hot sun.
In this stage the cloth which the gum is removed in washing is ready for colour development. The cloth is boiled in a copper vessel along with the required dye to get the respective colour. In this stage the dye added as per the requirement like alizarin for red, manjista for red and orange, anaar for mustard yellow, ratan joth for brighter backgrounds, gum trees bark for brown shades. And in the boiling we add jaaji leaves which helps to develop the colour.
Now the fabric is ready for printing the second colours. According to the requirement we print indigo, green, yellow, grey, light pink in this stage and dry it in hot sun.
After the second print is printed onto the fabric with require colours, the fabric has to be washed for gum removal, because, these colours also are mixed with guar gum. Again the fabric is washed in the river with flowing waters, the excess colour and gum is removed and flows with the water. After this it has to be dried in hot sun.