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Craftsmen's special

The exhibition of the Crafts Council of Kerala, on at BTH, has a traditional collection from all over the country

CRAFTING A TRADITION A unique ensemble

Srishti 2005 got up by the Crafts Council of Kerala at Soubhagya, BTH will be on from December 10 to 11, from 10 am to 7.30 pm. The exhibition features hand woven saris and materials from all over India, as the Crafts Council of India is engaged in promoting handicrafts and helping preserve the traditional crafts of the land. The craftsmen directly sell their stuff at the Craft Council exhibitions all over. Most of the craftsmen were out of work and finding it difficult to eke out a living some years ago, till several measures were taken by NGOs and the Governemnt to help them revive traditional crafts like different kinds of weaving and threadwork as also fabric dyeing.

At the Kochi show, there will be natural hand woven saris, dress material, precious stones, semi precious stones, tussars, Vidarbha silks, bagh prints, kantha tussar, duppattas, Kota zari saris, beads from Jaipur and other dress materials.

Block printed material by the Chheepa community in Central India using natural and vegetable dyes is unique in that it was a dying art that has been revived. These eco-friendly garments are made from natural dyes like indigo, turmeric, roots, pomegranate skin, lac, iron, fruit peels and leaves. The dyes are extracted in a slow process and printing also takes several days as opposed to the quick modern printing using chemical dyes. Block printing by this community uses teak blocks that have delicate motifs etched carefully and evolved through generations.

Traditional print design from Rajasthan are very interesting, as also the dyes.

Natural dyes are made from the strangest of things. Insect eaten waste seeds and powder left in wheat godowns are used to make dyes as also bird eated pomegranate fruits and rind from factories, for yellow dye. Black print paste is got from old horse shoes fermented in molasses solution.

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