ARTS & CRAFTS TOUR
Rajasthan is well known all over the world for its hand-printed textiles, furniture, leatherwork, jewellery, painting, pottery and metal craft. The use of lively colors and flamboyant, fantasy designs is distinctive in all forms of arts and crafts of Rajasthan.It will be unfair to say that Rajasthani artists only make decorative items. Every household item in Rajasthan proves the statement false as we go through their embellished utensils, colorful attires, unique jewellery designs and embroidered shoes that infuse a new life and a cheerful look to the otherwise monotone of the desert sands.
DHURRIES MAKING
Salawas, a land of magic carpets. A land where fantasy and reality joins forces to keep alive one of its most famous traditions: the durry making (Rugs).
The durry (Rugs), weather weaved out of cotton or wool, spreads colourful tradition and heritage from its primitive form of weaving in the villages of Rajasthan.
Make your home a cosier place by adding to it the magical glamour of India, with the colourful folklore of the durry (Rugs).Here you can buy or can see how these rugs are being manufactured.A durry is a thick flat-woven rug or carpet used traditionally in India as floor-coverings.The concept of durry is a little bit different from a rug or carpet, because they are used for bedding or packaging, not only as a floor covering. But since the durry serve the same purpose as carpet or rugs they can be described as one.
POTTERY
The different regions of Rajasthan have distinctive style of pottery. Jaipur is famous for its blue glazed pottery that doesn't use simple clay but ground quartz stone, fuller's earth and sodium sulphate.Terra-cotta pottery is also quite popular in Rajasthan. Molela, a village near Udaipur is specialized in making clay images of deities for ceremonial occasions. Alwar is known for its paper-thin pottery while Bikaner's painted pottery is tinted with lac colors. The white and red clay articles of Pokaran are marked with distinct geometric designs.
BLOCK PRINTING
Block Print is making use of a carved piece of wood or any other type of wooden block to imprint an image on fabric or paper.
Fantasy and the printers creativity is carved as stencils on blocks of wood which are them immersed in dyes to draw patterns on fabric in an organised manner leaving spellbinding symmetry. Master craftsmen come from a community called the CHIPAS.
In the early days of printing, it was used to print entire books. Today the process of block printing is popularly associated with making designs on fabrics by printing on them, with the help of a block made for that purpose.
It takes great skill to create fluid dynamic designs with a wooden block. Usually the number of colors needed coincides with the number of blocks required for a design. Because cost increase per meter; designs generally contain no more than 5 to 6 bocks. ln contrast, minimal designs use 1 to 2 blocks to achieve maximum effect. Originally printing blocks were tiny and light to allow greater control and accuracy while printing.