HandiCraft

Man is always attracted by colours.Using leaves and flowers, he gradually prepared colours from natural ingredients as per his imagination and using these colours, he created todays world of multicolour fabric.
Bhairavgarh situated at the bank of river Kshipra, has been   the  centre of attraction for craftsmen of colours for centuries, due to favourable chemical composition of its soil and water .   

Though from the  historical angle the  background  of advent of  dying  and  printing i s  not   known,  but the " Tarunakaragam "  dressed  heroin   or  the" Hansachinha "dukulwan" cladded   hero  of the    great poet kalidas,represent the colourful    dresses of  the   golden  age. The Bhagva  cloak  of   Sanyasi  (Hermit)    or  the  Keshria   apparel of the gallant  soldiers,is the symbol  of correspondence relevance of the colours.Number of evidences are available of the State patronage, provided to the craftsmen of colours. That is the reason, why this tradition of Bhairavgarh Print, which started with blocks, made of potatoes and Bandhej, has passed through its long journey through the blocks of soil or wood and further through alijarin chemical and screen printing process to provide livelihood to about 150 families of Bhairavgav

  Mechanisation of dying and printing, has affected the work of the craftsmen, but they have kept their tradition alive by fighting spirit, efficiency and adopting the methods of works, according to time and market demand. Even in the presently on going  trend of " Classic " and " Exclusive " the demand of traditional fabric has gone up among upper and middle class

Attractive colour combination of Chunari and Laharia is the miracle of Bandhej. This style of dying cloth, is probably as old as, the dress culture.itself. According to imagination, marking points on the cloth, and on every point tying knot with threads to dye the cloth, is the specialty of this style. In case of more than one colours the process is repeated for every single colour. This process goes on from light colours to dark colour.

This style is called the Bandhej, as for dying the cloth, first knots are tied on it with threads, Tying of knots and colour combination show the skill of the craftsman.

The tradition of printing cloths,began with blocks of potato and developed into printing with wooden blocks, is   centuries old.It can be marketed,when Bhairavgarh Lugda,Godra,Jajam or Nandana were replaced by sarees,bedsheet and dress material   landcreated their identity abroad as well.

The blocks are carved on the specially evened teak wood. These lifeless blocks,when used with colours,print design cloth which look full of life. For colour combination in one   design different block are used. In block printing utmost care is to be taken, regarding applying  even pressure on block every time, and properly matching the joints.  Preparation of colours is an important aspect of the art of printing and therefore,according to the  nature of the material used  for preparing the colours the printing techniques like Alijarin,Nandana,Chemical T.C,Bagru and Discharge print developed                     

Alijarin
In this   process, starch of the cloth is removed and it is dyed in yellow, using Myrobak.. Then for printing in black "Harakashish" and for printing in red alum are mixed with 'kachuka' or 'gum pates' in required ratio and printing is done with blocks.

Nandana
This style, which is liked by the tribals, the cloth is printed using alijarin method and the "Booties" are covered with specially prepared soil, called 'gara' and the cloth is dyed with peel of pomegranate.                                                                                           

Manufacturing of natural colours is time consuming and the options are also limited. On the other hand the use of chemical colours has made dying and printing easy. For Chemical printing various methods are adopted here. These methods are Indigo Sol, Rapid fast colour, Tin chloride (T.C.) Bagru and Discharge Print.& These methods are Indigo Sol, Rapid fast colour, Tin Chloride (T.C.) Bagru and Discharge Print

This most liked free hand style of colour craft probably came to india from Indonesia or China-   As regard Bhairavgarh art it is spreading its beauty for almost 700 years.

Unlimited imagination is the main feature of this style. That is the reason why sarees, bed sheets, dress material, wall panels, portraits,and scapes etc. can be made by this method.

Previously in this process specially prepared soil was used but now a day's hot melted wax is used, to give shape to the imagination with the help of pen or brush for dying. In case of more than one colours the process is repeated for each colour. Lastly, the cloth is dipped into boiling water to remove wax.

This Technique of more production is less time using bright colours,is relatively new.Many prints of the same design can be obtained using this technique.In fact screen is a mould made on a metal frame which can be used again and again.
The bolting cloth is mounted on the metal frame and photo sensitive chemicals are applied   on it to develop picture or design,like photo film.For printing, the cloth is spread over a wax coated table to the full length.For each colour separate screen is used.

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