Beautiful Art of Hand-Stamping

It is exciting to see the surprise on people’s faces when I tell them each pattern on our block print scarf range is hand-stamped using the wooden block. Often questioned, “How, the beautiful patterns can be hand stamped there are so many colors?” How many hours does it take to make this scarf? So, I thought I should pen down the process to give you a glimpse of how it is made. It is truly amazing to watch the Artisans create magic.

The fabric is first tacked onto the table/workbench with small pins to ensure it is stretched right and there are no creases in the fabric. The expert color masters prepare the colors for stamping the fabric these are filtered through the thin fabric and are put in trays called “Tari”. The Tari is the color tray that is placed on a wheeled wagon called –“Gaddi”.

The pattern and the number of colors define the number of blocks needed. This one in our video is a five-block pattern. Each color is stamped using a different block. It is like layering/filling the colors in with the blocks using repeat stamping. The outline block is called “Rekh” and the filler block is called ”Datta”.

Creating these marvelous patterns took years of practice, immense patience, and a steady hand. Over centuries this art has been perfected and passed down, from generation to generation. Our Artisan team in India has a lot of expertise and experience. Lalitji, giving the demonstration has experience of over 40 years of mastering this traditional technique. 

Beautiful imperfections of handwork make each piece unique and one of its kind. A true labor of love wouldn’t you agree.