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??

Art in Udaipur

Yesterday in Udaipur we were walking up the street from our guest house when we saw an artist hunched over a painting, hard at work.

We stopped to chat and met Lala, an amazingly talented artist who makes beautiful paintings. There are a number of miniature artists here in Udaipur, but I like Lala because besides his incredible talent he is also very creative, with new ideas he is trying all the time.

We spent almost an hour in his shop looking through his paintings. He told us he learned how on the street when he was young.

I noticed a sign that said art school, and learned that Lala teaches people if they want, from 12 pm to 4 pm, for 500 rupees (~$8 USD). 

How could I not go??

So today at 11:55 I showed up and he was ready for me. He showed me a bunch of different pictures to choose one I liked. After careful consideration I chose this one:

He cut a piece of white silk to fit over part of the picture, which is what I would be painting on.

He showed me how to cover the silk with a glue-paste made from the water rice is boiled in so it was smooth and stuck onto a wooden board. We waited for it to dry, then painted the silk white, and measured out the border.

He gave me a piece of tracing paper and mixed up some brown paint from a stone. His paints come from natural materials like this.

On the tracing paper I painted the outlines of the picture.

Then I put the tracing paper on the silk with a bit of home-made carbon paper beneath it, and went over the lines to transfer the image to the silk.

He mixed more paint and I painted over the lines, which advised to just use as a guide of what the picture should be like rather than follow exactly.

Next came the background! He mixed more colors from his stones and then showed me how to fade one into another.

Then it was a matter of filling in different pieces at a time, blending, and outlining, slowly in tiny increments which he carefully taught me one at a time over the course of four hours.

Break for chai

Back to work!

Add a border.

Add details.

He wrote my name in Hindi at the bottom.

When all is complete you can carefully pull the silk off of the wood. Lala trimmed the edges. I'm glad he didn't give me this job, as straight lines are not my forte.

Finally he set up my new painting with his ingenious packaging, which is a piece of plastic tube cut to fit the size. Painting is rolled up inside and voila! A tiny object you can throw in your bag and throw around without ever damaging the delicate work inside.

It was such a wonderful amazing experience, and I loved every minute of it. If you have ANY interest in art whatsoever, this is a must do. 

Lala is funny, patient, kind, and incredibly talented, and was happy to share his craft. His wife, Asha, was also there sewing in the corner, her Singer machine making gentle tapping music to paint to. The shop has open sides, so while painting I was also able to watch the neighborhood cat, cows, school kids, grandmothers, and babies go by.

If you are ever in Udaipur, do it do it do it.

It is one of the very best things I have done on this trip so far. And what a souvenir to have! 

I keep taking it out and looking at it again. I can't believe I made it. Thank you , Lala!