Ajrakh in Sanskrit means one that never fades.
It is an ancient art of coloring and painting the bedsheets and various other types of clothes in natural hues and colors .Scientists have found artifacts of this art in excavation of Mohen Jo Daro and Indus valley civilization sites.
Method -Before starting the process some solutions and pastes of natural herbs is made for printing and dying.
1)-The solution of harad (Chebulic Myrobaran)herb for 24 hours.
2)-A solution of lime and raising is prepared which will be used in printing later .
3)-In this step a paste of iron water and imli seed (Tamarind)powder is made which will be used for coloring.
The Ajrakh print process is a labor intensive process that involves several steps which are given below-
1- Preparing the cloth : The process begins with a grey cotton cloth that is cleaned, softened, and prepared. The cloth is soaked in a mixture of castor oil, sodium bicarbonate, and water for up to 24 hours. The cloth is then washed by repeatedly hitting it on a large rock until it becomes soft enough to absorb color.
2- Carving the blocks :Wood blocks are carved with detailed motifs. The blocks are typically made from sycamore(Gular), plane, or pear wood and should be two or three inches thick.
3- Printing: The fabric is printed with a resist paste and then
dyed. The process is repeated several times with different dyes.
4
- Dyeing : The cloth is dyed using natural dyes such as indigo, madder
root, and turmeric. This dyeing process can take several days to
complete.
5- Drying : The cloth is dried in the sun
light.
6- Oil treatment : The cloth then goes for oil
treatment for long lasting impression.
Althought there are total of sixteen steps involved in the complete process but major steps have been written above to understand complete process.
Availablity- The main towns where this print cloth available is Barmer in Rajasthan and Kutch region of Gujrat State .You will get hundreds of prints in natural Ajrakh clothes .
Barmer is 200 kms from Jodhpur Airport while the nearest Airport to Kutch is Bhuj Airport of Gujrat.
The level of geometry on the garment comes from the usage of a method of printing called woodblock printing in which prints were transferred from geometric shapes etched on the wooden blocks by pressing them hard on the fabric.You can purchase the bedsheets in Barmer(Rajasthan) ,Kutch(Gujrat) districts of India and various parts of Sindh province.
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