Indigo dyeing and visiting Arvind Indigo exhibit in Gujarat
Indigo dyeing and visiting Arvind Indigo exhibit in Gujarat
During our mini tour of alluring Gujarat, my friends and I spent part of a day in Khavda village. We visited textile dyers at their block printing shop. On the train ride from Ahmedabad to Bhuj, I did some shibori stitching on my cotton tunic. My hope had been to bring one of my failed cotton tunics and over dye it with Indigo, in India! And I had the opportunity here!
Rinsing out my newly dyed Indigo tunic, with Bhilal
Ifran
Indigo dyeing in Gujarat
Using traditional block printing methods, with natural dyes and indigo, Ifran Khatri and his brother, Bhilal are dyeing large pieces of cotton fabric.
A table, in the shop, held many carved wood blocks for printing. Each piece of fabric is printed with several colours. And each block is a different part of the design. The fabric is printed from lightest to darkest colours of dye. Finally, it is immersed in Indigo.
Hand cut wooden printing blocks
Dyeing a large piece of printed cotton, in Indigo
Oxidizing the cotton length
Laying out the fabric to dry, after dyeing
Ifran and his brother generously allowed me to use their Indigo vat. This vat had a huge flower!
Ifran poured some of the Indigo from the mother vat into the vat that I was going to use. Such an intense blue! After dyeing, I lay the dyed tunic on the ground, to dry in the sun.
At this time, we went for a walk to the local store, where I bought some jaggery, for my morning coffee.
The indigo is bought from a local market
Tamarind from the tree growing at the front of their shop is also used in the vat.
My hands in the Indigo vat, so Kuldip, my friend/guide helped me to have a sip of Chai
Oxidizing the tunic, after dyeing in Indigo
Checking out the results
Before our arrival in Bhuj, we spent a few days in Ahmedabad. We took an auto-rickshaw, to the Arvind Indigo exhibition, called “Alchemy”, a must-see on my list. This was a spectacular show on Indigo dyeing in Gujarat. It should be noted that it is on temporarily at Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum.
This exhibition included the works of 20 artists from India and abroad. A large variety of materials were used, in addition to fabric. These included paper, stone, plexiglass, aluminum, and more.