Out to dry
Dr Ismail Mohammad Khatri
10th generation Ajrakh printer and head of the community.
Received an Honorary Doctorate from De Montford University, UK
Supplies to FabIndia
He now has cancer and he believes that this is due to many years of using Naphthol dyes.
All dyeing now is natural.
Originally the ajrakh printers were located in Dhamadka which had a river with a very good water supply. This is rare in arid Kutch. After 1991 the tank and well water level decreased. After the 2001 earthquake, water became a severe problem and this led to the move to Ajrakhpur.
Shawls dyed with shibori and indigo
An order for England.
What a beautiful sight
The dye tray
Different stages of washing the fabric.
The men on the left are washing unprinted fabric.
These men really beat the fabric to remove the excess dye and other substances used
This is a great big copper pot.
The dye in the pot is alizarin.
It is heated from below -see next picture.
To avoid damaging wet prints, the printing is done randomly and then the workers go back and fill in unprinted sections.
There are 16 steps in the Ajrakh printing.
Below are 9 of them
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