Block Printing in Jaipur

We seem to be on an art binge here in Rajasthan. There is so much talent here. 

Yesterday we visited the Anokhi Museum of Hand Block Printing. It was a bit of a whim--it was close to the fort we were visiting and next to the Escher-like Panna Meena step well, which I most wanted to see. 

The Musum turned out to be an amazing experience, due mostly to the artisans there. 

We paid 10 rupees each to get in (~15 US cents) and I paid another 50 to be allowed to take pictures. 

The museum is all about hand printing designs on garments, and covers a variety of different traditional methods, and shows how they were made step by step.

More than the fabric I love the hand carved blocks used to make the designs. They had an artisan there carving designs out of teak wood, who showed us the different tools. The work is mind blowing.

This set of four blocks is used to make the multi-colored design to the right. I can't imagine the labor involved to make sure each piece matches up, and printing an entire 9 yard sari with it.

The man there made a little flower stamp that I could take home right in front of us, from a block of wood in a matter of minutes.

In the next room there was a man printing fabric with the blocks. It turned out these were little handkerchiefs for us to keep! We watched him carefully line up the designs so the corners matched, and smack the block to press the design into the fabric. He let me try as well, and then expertly went back over it to fix my mistakes.

First was the outline of the pattern, which used two different stamps--one for the border and one for the flowers inside. Next the border was filled in with color using another stamp.

A stamp of little dots was added across the center. The way he could line these up perfectly with eachother was so impressive. Then a fifth stamp for the green parts of the flower.

And red for the flowers themselves.

Six different hand carved stamps and four colors of ink to make this!

The artisan, Mohammad Iqbal, was a great guy, and very proud of his Indian heritage. He started learning printing from his father at age 8. He said the middle years were rough, but there is more work again now. He told us that sometimes the tourists don't understand when he asks them if they want to try the block printing themselves, and then they complain that they didn't get to, which is so heartbreaking. He seemed like such a good person in the short time we had there. When I took a picture with him he cupped the back of my head with his hand, which made me want to cry.

I expected I would like the museum, but I didn't expect it to be so rewarding to visit. 

Besides the museum itself being worthwhile, it is located in a small neighborhood off the beaten path on a narrow winding street. In the evening women came with vessels to the well outside and water buffalo wandered in through the gate archway. 

The auto we had hired out (four hours for 700 rupees, $11 US) waited beneath a temple.

On the way back to Jaipur we stopped to look at Jal Mahal, a palace inside the lake. 

We bought a little snack from a vendor of puffed rice, tomatoes, onions, and lime wrapped up in newspaper, apparently called "time-pass." 

Normally I would be too afraid to buy something off the street like this, but it was so so delicious.

Finally, as the sun set, we headed back home. We are meeting up with the auto-driver from yesterday again today. 

I think my favorite part of the day was meeting different people, and getting to know them a little bit more.

What will today bring??