DESIGNS & COLOURS
The blocks used for stamping are intricately and deeply carved by block-makers in Pethapur in Gujarat. The design repertoire of Bagh prints covers geometrical and floral compositions. Bagh layouts are dramatic in the use of black and red alternately on a white background.
Ismail Khatri remembers his father making different prints and even different clothes for different communities and castes like Brahmin, Harijan, Bhil, Bhilalas, Jats, Bharur, Mahajan etc. He remembers that even Khatris used to wear particular clothes with specific prints. However now none of this differentiation remains. Expect the Adivasis (that too only for particular occasions), all buy all types of prints and fabric.
The printing is done with vegetable colours, derived from plants, fruits, flowers, and minerals. Ismail Khatri claims that there are only four basic (natural) colours: red, black, khaki, and indigo. He says that he can lay a bet with anyone who says that there is a fifth colour. The black colour is prepared with ferrous sulphate mixed with tamarind seed powder and glue, which is cooked in water and stored for use. The red is similarly produced from alum.
In the case of grey, the printing is done with hirakayisha (earlier made of iron rust; now bought from the market) for developing the colour, the cloth is not boiled but is passed through a chalk solution/lime solution (chune ka paani ka dhol). If a grey tone is being created, hehra powder is not used. It is when these colours are boiling with dhavda flowers and alizarine that the dramatic colours associated with Bagh prints are revealed. More colours – like blue, ochre and salmon pink – have also been introduced with the use of indigo and anaar ka chilka (pomegranate skin).
Other colours can be made, by using different natural commodities and by using differently the materials used in creating the four basic colours. Shades can be obtained by increasing or decreasing the material (colouring) used by varying the ratio of different material used. For example, increasing or reducing the quantity of hirakayisha, several shades can be created; alum can be varied to produce different shades of red.
Suleman Khatri and the sons of Ibrahim Khatri explained the entire process. Any material like hirakayisha or alum has to be first made into a paint-like solution with imli ka chiya (seed of the tamarind) to make a paint like solution. Hot water is added according to the required density of the paint/print solution. Generally enough a colour is made once – in the morning – for the entire day’s requirements. However, if needed, colours can be made any time.