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Rajasthani Ajrakh Saree Ajrakh block prints are originally from the Sind but have, for generations now, been printed in Rajasthan and Gujarat too. They were traditionally printed using indigo for the blue, and alizarine for the red. Both indigo and alizarine were historically extracted from plants of the indigofera and madder genera respectively although synthetic dyes of both are now available. In fact, in 1869, alizarine became the first natural pigment which was synthetically replicated. In India, Indigofera Tinctoria tends to be used to make the dye (when a natural pigment is used), and Ajrakh seems to have got its name from ‘ Azrak ’ which means ‘blue’ in Arabic. That said, there is also a tale (that sounds rather revisionist, it must be admitted) which says that Ajrakh derives its name from being set aside for a day after each stage in the printing process. Ajrakh may be either one- or two-sided ( ekpuri or bipuri ), and the process of creating it is rather long drawn ...

Bagh Prints on a Maheshwari Saree Bagh prints from Madhya Pradesh are said to have been made for a thousand years although it is far from clear if this is actually true. The name Bagh itself comes from the village Bagh on the banks of the river Baghini, and some of the hand blocks used for printing are about 200 years old. There are tales that prints from this area were originally created by artisans who had, at some point, migrated from Rajasthan but there appears to be no evidence to either support or negate such tales. Older patterns are usually geometrical and were printed in black and red against a white background. Nowadays, however, far more colours are used. Bagh prints tend to be exceptionally bright, and it is believed that this is due to the mineral content in the waters of the river Baghini where they are washed. Fabric which is to be used for printing (usually cotton) is softened using raw salt, castor oil, soda and goat droppings, after which it is sun dried, a...