Colouricious Block Printing Holiday. 11 days in Jaipur - January 20 - 31. Part the first . . .

This was the beautiful sight that greeted us when we arrived at Hotel Meghniwas in Jaipur. Just wonderful.

Jamie Malden of Colouricious runs, develops and organises the most wonderful textile holidays. Not only in India but also Bhutan and Japan. Do have a look at what is on offer. colouricious.com/textile-art-holidays-trips

The holidays and all they involve are amazing, you are very well looked after. Each trip is different, Jamie is always finding new and exciting things for her guests to discover and enjoy. There is nothing she loves more than wandering around all the back streets of cities, finding new workshops and factories to work with.

Colouricious also offer more 'off the beaten track' holidays. Do check out the website.

Puneet and Jamie.

On arrival at the hotel from the airport, we all milled about on the beautiful terrace by the pool while we were waiting to be shown to our rooms.
A least half the group were traveling by themselves, everyone was getting on well already.
Jamie's good friend and 'man in Jaipur', Puneet, came to introduce himself. Puneet organises the carving of all the Colouricious printing blocks and shipping them to the UK.  He also is very involved with the Jaipur tours, going on ahead to make sure everything is set up and ready for the group when they arrive at workshops and factories. Puneet is a lovely man, nothing is too much trouble.

 
Sitting on the terrace by the pool. 

Arriving in a group of 25 guests when you are on your own can be daunting, but everyone got on well right from the start. Everyone felt included.

 Our first day started with a local emporium that block printed clothes and fabric and also had the most incredible collections of old Indian artifacts. An amazing collection. From antique door handles to massive stone ornaments for the house and garden. A wonderful feast for the eyes.

Wonderful shapes and designs.

We were greeted with marigold garlands, We were all wide eyed and fascinated as we go off the bus. Our first trip out . . . 
Throughout the holiday we were ferried about in an air conditioned coach and were given endless bottles of water. Being a group of 25 the coach was just right.

The whole group was given a short talk by the owner of the emporium, it was very interesting, how they worked, what they printed. We then split into 2 groups, one group stayed downstairs to do the block printing, and the other group went upstairs to watch the Zardozi embroidery and look at the fabrics in the textile studio. The groups then swapped over after an hour or so.

As well as printing metres of fabric, the factory prints on partly made garments that are then completed once the printing is dry and fixed.

It was wonderful to watch the group working with the factory workers, although they spoke no English, everyone communicated with their hands and smiles. Great fun. The groups were showed how to mitre the prints with the border blocks and how to register the double and triple prints. You could almost hear the concentration. I think the factory workers were quite impressed with the results. I know we were. And it was only the first day . . .

While one group were printing the others went upstairs to watch the incredibly skilled embroiderers. In these photos the men are working on 6 cushion cover designs. Once the embroidery is finished, the fabric is cut into 6 squares and made up into cushions. All manner garments are also decorated in this way. It is a very rich, rather magnificent form of decoration.

 
 
The group were fascinated by the embroidery and the men were very patient when they were surrounded by groups of very excited ladies.
It was fantastic to be able to watch how this embroidery was done.
And we all love a bit of sparkle.

 
To see more of this kind of work - have a look at this link -

This is a link for Google images - you will lost for a while in these images . .


The gold bullion, fine gold wire wound to make a tube.

The bullion cut into lengths ready to be stitched down and a pot of gold sequins . .  can you have too much gold?

The textile studio is next to the embroidery room, A chance to look at rows and rows of gorgeous fabrics and maybe get some clothes copied. They have very fast and accurate tailors in Jaipur.

 
A beautiful pile of antique embroidered textiles.

This chandelier was one of several in the textile studio. A bit of glamour while you are choosing fabrics for your garments.

So - that is it for a day or so, I will be writing several posts about this trip, it really was remarkable. Watch this space for metallic printing, painting elephants, forts and palaces . . Wonderful.

***

I am desperately trying to catch up with all my admin this week, I am off to Redditch tomorrow to teach the penultimate session of ExTex5, then the following weekend it is the trade show at the NEC . . AArgghh!!! There are not enough hours in the next 2 weeks, hey ho, head down and get on with it Kim . . 
***

Hello Jill, your visit was too short, see you in March.
Hello Diana, will ring you today.
Hi Tod - you are next on the list.

x x x

Comments

  1. Well done, one down, more to go. Too short a visit but very enjoyable, soon be March xx

    ReplyDelete

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