Natural dye studio in Gujarat

Undoubtedly, a visit to my friend Shafik’s natural dye studio, in Gujarat, was another memorable, travel experience.

Our stopover was twofold. First, we went to his studio. Shafik lives and works in the port city of Mundra.

A number of different Indian dyes are used in his natural dye studio. Some include Madder, Lac, Eupatorium and Myrobalan. He often leaves the plant dye matter steeping overnight. The dye colour becomes more saturated, in this manner.

Of many dyes, a common one, for both of us is Marigold blossoms

We were invited to Shafik’s family home after the Studio visit. He showed us many of his textile dyeing works, on silk and cotton. Much of his technique is Bandhani tying. This is a resist technique used in various textile areas, in India.

Bandhani (Hindi: बांधानी) is a type of tie-dye textile decorated by plucking the cloth with the fingernails into many tiny bindings that form a figurative design.The term bandhani is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root bandh (“to bind, to tie”). https://craftatlas.co/crafts/bandhani

Shafik’s mother offered us each fresh coconut milk, straight from the coconut, while we perused these lovely fabrics,

Our time at Shafik’s natural dye studio was short. Nonetheless, it was wonderful to interact in person with him and to see how he works. I hope that I will again be able to travel to Gujarat. It would be enjoyable to spend more time talking with Shafik about that which we clearly both love- Natural Dyeing! https://www.facebook.com/mshafikkhatri