Bagru Jaipur Prints

The Chhipa community & Bagru Printing

Bagru is the name of a small village located 32 km west from Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan. This is where the Chippa community has been practicing this artisan work of block printing for more than 450 years. The soil and climate of this region are said to be perfect for this unique style of printing.

It is believed that once the Chhipa community had settled around the banks of river Sanjariya, they became familiar with a type of “clay” which was later utilized for this printing.

Available at Delhi:-Anokhi, Rajasthali

Process

The labour-intensive work calls for a great deal of skilfulness and time on behalf of the artisan.

Artisans first soak the fabric in Fuller’s earth and then dip it into turmeric water to achieve the yellow tone. Next, they stamp the dyed fabric with the lovely designs known as blocks.

White, beige and cream are the primary shades used for the base color of the fabric. For printing, artisans make use of natural colors such as black (obtained from iron horse shoe) red (obtained from alum) and maroon (obtained by mixing black and red). A special Bagru print is also created by using saffron.

Additionally, natural vegetable dyes are also used prominently. The fabric is dried up later in the sun for the final finishing.

The wooden blocks used in the process are that of teak-wood. Aath Kaliya, Chopad, and Kamal are the various kinds of motifs used in the designing part.