Kalamkari
Hand-painted or block-printed cotton from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, coloured with natural dyes.
Also: pen work
Kalamkari means pen work, from the Persian words for pen and craft. In the style of Srikalahasti, artists draw freehand with a bamboo pen dipped in dye, creating scenes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and temple stories. In the style of Machilipatnam, the outlines are printed with carved wooden blocks. Both use a long sequence of treating the cloth with milk and myrobalan, applying mordants, dyeing with plant colours, and washing in running water. The palette is earthy: black, red, indigo, yellow and green.