Colour in textiles: ikat, bandhani, batik and kalamkari

Ikat

In ikat the pattern is dyed into the threads before the cloth is woven. Bundles of yarn are bound tightly at measured points, dyed, then unbound, and this is repeated for each colour. When the threads are woven, the pattern appears with a soft, feathered edge where they do not line up exactly. In double ikat both the lengthwise and crosswise threads are patterned and must meet precisely. The patola of Patan in Gujarat is the most famous example. Odisha, Telangana, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Japan and Guatemala all have ikat traditions of their own.

Bandhani and batik

Bandhani, from the Hindi for to tie, is made in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The cloth is pinched into hundreds or thousands of tiny points, each bound with thread, then dyed. Untied, each point leaves a small ring of the original colour. Starting with the lightest dye and retying between baths gives several colours. Japan's shibori and the Yoruba adire of Nigeria use related methods. In batik, hot wax is drawn or stamped on the cloth, which is then dyed and the wax boiled out. Indonesian batik is recognised by UNESCO, and the craft is also strong in Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

Kalamkari

Kalamkari means pen work. At Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh, artists draw freehand on cotton with a bamboo pen wrapped in cloth, mainly scenes from the Hindu epics for temple hangings. The cotton is first treated with myrobalan fruit and buffalo milk. Black outlines come from a solution of iron, and red from alum followed by a madder dye bath. Blue is indigo and yellow comes from plants. At Machilipatnam the outlines are block-printed instead. The work takes many washes and many days, and uses the same chemistry that made Indian chintz famous.

Colours on this page

Sources and further reading

• Resist dyeing on Wikipedia
• UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Indonesian Batik
• Sahapedia: Kalamkari
• The Hindu: Malini Divakala's research on Kalamkari