Today a trip to the outer environs of
Bangalore, to Renuka Reddy's Redtree Handcrafted Textiles Studio.
Because her studio uses intricate resist-dyeing techniques, in
addition to hand-painting with a kalem (a very thin bamboo pen) on
hand-spun and hand-woven cotton, she believes what she is doing is
unique. I would say not only unique but exceptionally beautiful.
There is literally no one left in the world who knows how to make
chintz in the traditional way, so everything Renuka does is an
experiment, and she has notebooks filled with results.
A lesson on fabric prep |
She demonstrated, step by step, what
she has discovered so far. Her biggest sticking point at this time
is finding some way to make fine wax lines before the wax solidifies
and she can't draw without heating up the instrument. To make the
chintz she must first beat (with a child's cricket bat) the fabric,
then soak it overnight in dung, then wash and beat it again. A
soaking in buffalo milk (and it must be buffalo milk because of the
fat content) washing and rubbing to smooth the cloth, and its finally
ready for painting. The thin black lines are drawn using the kalem
and ink made from iron rust and jaggery (raw Indian sugar). Colors
are added, some with mordant (a substance used to set dyes on fabrics by forming a chemical bond with the dye which then
attaches to the fabric), some with wax resist. This is getting to
technical!! I'll stop now with the heavy stuff.
After leaving Renuka's studio we had
lunch and then saw three guys in a very, very small shop weaving
silk, and then went shopping. Lots of walking involved, plus the
usual Indian steps, all the wrong size and made out of marble so
sometimes slippery.
A chintz by Renuka Reddy |
Renuka's mom is a quilter
Show and tell in Bangalore
|
Showing the goods |
An incredibly tiny, hot
noisy silk weaving shop
|
Can you imagine, hand painting on fabric? Such talent. Don't suppose you would consider coming to Sutter as a guest speaker and showing your trip photos? Awesome idea Jan!! 😚🤗🤗
ReplyDeleteI cannot begin to think of handpainting like this. Tedious in the extreme. Maybe.
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