Things you should keep in mind before taking something Kalamkari Art

There are many traditional art forms of India where Kalamkari is one of the most Known art forms of India noted for its extraordinary beautiful hand paintings on fabrics. Hand Painted or block printed hand-woven or printed cotton fabric produced in Isfahan, Iran, and the Indian. Only natural dyes are used in Kalamkari, which includes twenty-three steps.  This is very popularly used as handspring in fabrics for dress material, sarees and ready-made salwar kameez, kurtas, etc.

Kalamkari

Craft has been the largest oral tradition made in India, and knowledge, skills, ideas and an endless tradition and values have been passed down from generation to generation. Drawn, there is widespread use of fast live colours, no purification of ability and quality over the years. The word Kalamkari is derived from Persian word where kalam means “pen” and kari refers to “craftsmanship”. Kalamkari first appeared in Mahabharat 6000 years ago, says 82-year-old Artisan! Modern Kalamkari has both of these styles combined into different elements within the art. Incorporating minute details, Kalamkari uses the ‘tamarind branch’ as a pen, to paint beautiful images of Krishna Raas-Leela, Indian gods and goddesses like Parvati, Vishnu, Shri Jaganath .Kalamkari motifs can vary from flowers, peacocks, paisley to of the top characters of Hindu songs. like Mahabharata and Ramayana. Kalamkari, in its latest use, seems to produce forms of Buddhist and Buddhist art.

Kalamkari colours:

Earth colours such as indigo, mustard, rust, black and green are mainly used in Kalamkari art.All colours in Kalamkari are purchased or prepared using natural methods as use of synthetic dyes is strictly prohibited.Although mustard or yellow are found in boiling pomegranate leaves, red hues are made from madder or algirin bark. Similarly, blue is found in indigo and green is found in a mixture of yellow and blue together.

Women are depicted with yellow shadows, blue gods, and red and green demons. Red dye is found in madder roots, yellow pomegranate seeds or mango bark, and black on myrobalam roots. The natural dyes used to paint colours in Kalamkari art are extracted from natural sources without the use of chemicals and synthetic materials. For example, artists craft black colour by combining jaggery, water and metal fillers that they use to produce drawings.

Kalamkari Making

23 steps are involved in the process of making Kalamkari. The whole process is a process that requires precision and an eye for detail from  hand painting, to drying and washing processes. The cotton fabric used in Kalamkari is first treated with a solution of cow dung and bleach. The fabric acquires a white uniform after storing the fabric in this solution for several hours. After this, the cotton cloth is dipped in a mixture of buffalo milk and Myrobalans. The Contamination of the fabric dye can be avoided when painted with natural dyes. The odour of the buffalo milk is removed by washing the cloth under running water for sometime. Almost 20 times the cloth, in turn, is washed and dried under the sun. Artists draw motifs and designs on the fabric when the fabric is ready to paint., Kalamkari artists prepare dyes using natural resources to complement the colours within the paintings.

Kalamkari types

There are two distinctive styles of kalamkari art in India –

Srikalahasti Kalamkari:

The Srikalahasti style is one of the 2 styles of Kalamkari in India. In Srikalahasti style for free hand drawing of a subject pen or kalam is used and filling in the colours is entirely hand worked. This style had an almost religious identity where flowered around temples and their patronage, temple hangings, chariot banners and the like depicted deities and scenes taken from great epics – Ramayana, Mahabarata, Puranas and mythological classics. This style owes its present status to Smt. Kamaladevi Chattopadhay who popularised the art as the first Chairperson of All India Handicrafts Board. Only natural dyes are used in Kalamkari, and involves seventeen painstaking steps.

Machilipatnam:

The fabric and motifs printed with hand-carved traditional blocks In Machilipatnam style of Kalamkari. Now two different pattern of designs is following by the Artists. The Andhra artists preparing the themes from the observation of forts, palaces, and temples of India. Under the Golconda sultanate, this art flourished at Machilipatnam in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh and further was promoted during the 18th century, as a decorative design on clothing by Britishers in India.

Kalamkari Dresses:

Not only Indian if you are fond of contemporary or western styles, you ought to own a collection of Kalamkari strap dresses, crop tops , skirts ,overcoats. The most voguish fashion right now with Kalamkari prints and sleeveless dresses or strap are in fashion. When it comes to Indian wear there are so many styles in Kalamkari to try out. Sarees , blouse , Anarkhali dresses , dhupatts, lehangas , kurtis, kurtas , jackets .Maxis and blouse with Kalamkari fabric and in trend now. Everyone can slay kalamkari dresses of any style which shows traditional craft and art in it. For casual wear as well as formal wear Kalamkari sarees will be the best option out of all.