Still in Print - From Ajrakh to Kalamkari

Journey through four different block printing communities in India using natural dyes: Ajrakh, Kalamkari, Dabu and Bagh. The skill and mastery of these artisans carries tradition forward, continuing to give life to these complex techniques that have been passed down for up to 9 generations.

This lecture and film was given by Tim McLaughlin and Charllotte Kwon for the Royal Ontario Museums’s exhibition in 2022 - “The Cloth that Changed the World”. The exhibition traveled to the St Louis Art Museum in 2023. In 2025 the exhibit will move to the Royal BC Museum. This exhibition features the work of the Khatri family of Damadkha. Early 2026 it will move to the Bowers Museum Santa Ana, California.

💌 Sign up to receive beautiful emails that celebrate artisan work, slow clothes and natural dyes - https://mailchi.mp/maiwa/subscribe

🍿 WATCH NEXT:
Slow Clothes in India -    • Slow Clothes in India  
The Poetics of Textiles -    • The Poetics of Textiles  

ONLINE WORKSHOPS:
https://maiwa.teachable.com/

MORE PLACES TO FIND US:
🌞Our website & shop - https://maiwa.com/
💃🏽Maiwa’s Slow Clothes - https://maiwa.com/collections/all-clo...
🌿Natural Dye & Textile Workshops - https://maiwa.teachable.com/
🧶Natural Dye Tips & Recipes - https://naturaldyes.ca/
📸 Instagram:
Maiwa -   / maiwahandprints  
Maiwa School of Textiles -   / maiwaschooloftextiles  
Maiwa Natural Dyes -   / maiwa_naturaldyes  

WHO ARE WE?
We are natural dyers, textile lovers, travellers, teachers & designers 🌿 A family business for over 35 years: Natural Dyes, Slow Clothes, Artisan Goods, Organic Bedding, Handwoven Textiles, Online Natural Dye Workshops, and more…

⌚️Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:23 - Chintz & Calico
01:51 - Ajrakh block printing - Ismail Khatri
03:52 - Jabbar Khatri
05:08 - Dabu block printing - Mahesh Dosaya
07:21 - Bagh block printing
08:49 - Kalamkari - Pen work & block printing
10:15 - Mukkanti Eswarudu
11:33 - The natural colours of India’s painted & printed cotton
15:30 - Tannin & iron to achieve natural black
15:51 - Alum (potassium aluminum sulphate)
16:31 - Transforming the fibres of the textile
17:03 - Tannins - Myrobalan
18:01 - The tannins & iron reaction
18:24 - Ajit Das
19:38 - Painting & printing with red - madder root & alum
21:13 - Madder Red
21:58 - Indigo - Adam Khatri
23:46 - Resists to maintain the white colour
24:19 - Pattern created by resists & mordants
25:20 - Subtleties controlled by the artisan
26:13 - Thoughts on contemporary artisans
27:10 - Process of block carving
27:54 - Ajrakh
28:23 - Bagh
30:14 - Dabu
31:12 - Kalamkari
33:28 - Ajrakh