A brief of some famous crafts of India

1. Religions- creating life
By:
DHAIRYATA JAIN

2. CRAFTS OF
INDIA

3. PHULKARI AND BAGH

4. 17
 The traditional craft of
Punjab
 Flower working
 Odni, dupatta and shawls
 Bagh-the garments that
cover the whole body
 Usually wore on
ceremonial occasions or
the birth of a son
 Whole work done in white
and yellow silk floss on
cotton khaddar using Darn
stich
 Starts from center and
goes on
 Worn by women

5. CHAMBAL RUMAL

6.  Himachal Pradesh
 Made of fine cotton and muslin
 Embroidered by silk and silver and
silver guilt wire
 Embroidery is done on a double
satin stitch technique which ensured
an exact replication of the image on
the reverse of the fabric.
 Subjects are drawn by the women in
outlines
 Charcoal was used for tracing
 Motifs: related to lord Krishna
 Silk embroidered square pieces of
handspun and hand-woven
unbleached mulmul, fine cloth that
were used to cover dishes of food,
gifts, to significant persons and
offering to a deity, or exchange
between the families of the bride
and the groom as token of good will.
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7. WARLI PAINTINGS

8.  Maharashtra’s folk paintings
 The largest tribe found on the
outskirts of Mumbai
 Vivid expression of daily and social
events of the tribe
 Done on walls
 Do not depict mythological
characters
 Depict social life
 Rhythmic pattern
 Human figures engaged in activities
 Painted on mud using white and
yellow and red [occasionally]
 White color-grounding rice
 Evoke powers of god
 Series of dots makes a line
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9. MADHUBANI

10.  Village in Bihar
 Colors are applied flat with
no shading
 Outline-double line
 Generally depict nature and
Hindu motifs
 Depict scenes
 Traditionally done on wet
muddy walls of houses
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11. LAC WARE

12.  Produced by the female lac
insect found in abundance in
the forests of Rajasthan, is
formed into a variety of jewelry
items.
 Lac bangles are worn especially
on auspicious occasions and
also signify that the wearer is
married
 Colors are bright and frequently
studded with glass pieces.
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13. KUNDAN JADAU

14.  Kundan is a Mughal technique.
 High skilled craftsmanship
 The tradition of Jadau work has
been in practice in the states of
Rajasthan and Gujarat since the
Mughal Era.
 Jadau jewellery is also called
Engraved Jewellery and is unique
and a kind in itself.
 Considered to be a traditional
jewelry of India, it is used in many
traditional and auspicious
occasions, like marriages and
festival celebrations.
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15. TANGKA PAINTINGS

16.  A Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton,
or silk appliqué, usually depicting
a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala.
 Thangkas are traditionally kept unframed
and rolled up when not on display, mounted
on a textile backing somewhat in the style
of Chinese scroll paintings
 relatively small
 These were designed to be displayed,
typically for very brief periods on a
monastery wall, as part of religious
festivals. A central "deity" is often
surrounded by other identified figures in a
symmetrical composition. Narrative scenes
are less common, but do appear.
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17. KASHIDAKARI

18.  Kashmiri embroidery(also Kashida) is used for
phirans (woollen kurtas) and namdahs (woollen
rugs)as well as stoles
 It draws inspiration from nature. Birds, blossoms
and flowers, creepers, chinar leaves, ghobi,
mangoes, lotus, and trees are the most common
themes.
 The entire pattern is made with one or two
embroidery stitches, and mainly chain stitch on a
base of silk, wool and cotton: the colour is usually
white, off-white or cream but nowadays one can
find stoles and salwar-kameez sets in many other
colours such as brown, deep blue, sky blue,
maroon and rani pink
 The craftsmen use shades that blend with the
background
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19. BLUE POTTERY

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 The art of making blue glaze pottery came
to Rajasthan via Kashmir, the Mughal
emperors’ favourite retreat and, more
importantly, their entry point into India.
 Mongol artisans combined Chinese
glazing technology with Persian
decorative arts
 Jaipur blue pottery, made out of Egyptian
paste, is glazed and low-fired. No clay is
used: the 'dough' for the pottery is
prepared by mixing quartz stone powder,
powdered glass, Multani Mitti , borax,
gum and water
 The colour palette is restricted to blue
derived from the cobalt oxide, green from
the copper oxide and white, though other
non-conventional colours, such as yellow
and brown are sometimes included.

21. GOTA PATTI

22.  A form of metal embroidery
which originated in Rajasthan.
 It is crafted using appliqué
technique with a strip of gold or
silver or various other coloured
ribbons of different widths woven
in a satin or twill weave.
 It involves placing woven gold
cloth onto fabrics such as
georgette or bandhini to create
different surface textures.
 Plastic Gota and is highly durable
as it has a good resistance to
moisture and does not tarnish as
opposed to metal based Gota.
 The process is lengthy and time
consuming.
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23. PATTU WEAVING

24.  THE MEGHWAL COMMUNITY
weave local wool into narrow
strips, or patti, that are then
stitched together to form wide
shawls known as pattu that are
worn by members of all
communities in the region.
 The base cloth of the pattu is in
either plain or twill-weaves and
the motifs are created through
the use of the extra weft is
usually of a colour in contrast to
the base cloth and is inserted
after every two picks, thus
producing an impression of finely
embroidered fabric.
 The pattu constitute an important
element in local rituals among
the Meghwal, the pattu weaving
community, pattu form a part of
the gifts given to the prospective
groom`s family when fixing a
marial alliance; they are also
gifted to all the immediate
relatives to the groom during the
marriage ceremony.
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25. PHAD PAINTING

26.  A style religious scroll painting and folk
painting, practiced in Rajasthan state
of India.
 This style of painting is traditionally done on
a long piece of cloth or canvas, known
as phad.
 The ancient tradition of scroll painting
survives in Rajasthan as Phad.
 A Phad is a long rectangular cloth painting
that tells of the adventures and travails of
Pabuji, a local hero or other epic heroes.
 The Phad is painted in bold colors and is
rolled on two shafts of bamboo, thus
making it easy to carry.
 The large-scale horizontal paintings on cloth
portraying the epic lives of the local hero-
gods are popularly known as Phad paintings.
These paintings have the mammoth task of
representing a complex and a full blown folk
epic narrative, which it achieves through
a very specific style of representation, filled
with figures & pictorial incidents, these
paintings form a kind of dramatic backdrop
to epic story telling performances.
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27. BLOCK PRINTING OF BAGRU AND
SANGANER

28.  Practiced in the vicinity of Jaipur and share a common
vocabulary of bel(creepers), buta and buti (floral motifs
of varying sizes) and jaal(floral net).
 Sanganer`s graceful curvilinear floral motifs and colour
palette of reds and blacks printed against sun-bleached
white, cream or grey-blue backgrounds are defined as
much by its employment of the direct printing technique
as the Mughal influenced aesthetic prevalent at the
court.
 Dyed and mordant prints of Bagru catered to the folk,
trading, agricultural and artisan communities that
constituted the local population. Each of these
communities had a specific sartorial code; the
combination of colours and motifs used on a printed
skirt, veil or garment could identify the wearer`s
community and occupation as well as the season.
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29. KANTHA

30.  Kantha is a type of embroidery popular in
eastern South Asia,
especially Bangladesh and
the Indian states of West
Bengal and Odisha. In Odisha old saris are
stacked on each other and hand-stitched
to make a thin piece of cushion. This is
normally used above a bed cushion or
instead of a cushion. The use of kantha is
popular in "Kantha saris" traditionally
worn by women in Bengal.
 Kantha stitching is also used to make
simple quilts, commonly known as Nakshi
Kantha. Women in Bengal typically use old
saris and cloth and layer them with kantha
stitch to make a light blanket, throw or
bedspread, especially for children. Kantha
is very popular with tourists visiting Bengal
and is a specialty of Bolpur, West Bengal,
India.
 Kantha is still the most popular form of
embroidery practised by rural women. The
traditional form of Kantha embroidery was
done with soft dhotis and saris, with a
simple running stitch along the edges
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31. KALAMKARI

32.  Kalamkari designs: The women figures are
always shown in yellow tones. The celestial
gods with an aura are always painted blue.
The evil demons are featured in red and
green shades.
 The art form emerged from the temples,
religious themes are most popular and
striking.
 The iconic figures of gods and goddesses
are very common too. Often a painting or a
saree will feature the sun chariot in its
glory.
 The red is sourced from madder root or
pomegranate seed. Black comes from
myrobalam.
 The hands of the artists are naturally free
while they paint. Hence no two panels look
similar. This is a trademark of an original
piece.
 Textiles featuring household items have
classic, linear block prints.
 All Kalamkari designs, patterns and prints
are still made from natural vegetable dyes
and not harmful chemicals.
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