Jaipur - part VI - hand stamped fabric factory

Our guide took us to a place where they do stamping on fabric, with vegetable-based dyes, and on natural fabrics - silk and cotton. Jaipur is famous for this work, and it was pretty cool. The guy in charge took us out to the work-area (under cover but with only 3 walls and no door (??) and let the girls stamp something!

They all stamped with a different colour. Except Isaac who was waiting in the car because he was sure it would be boring. Then later he felt ripped off of course, because it was cool! Unfortunately, Miranda left the finished product at the hotel :( so these photos are all that is left.
The stamps are hand-carved, wooden blocks.
Because they are vegetable dyes, the true colour doesn't show up until they dry. They stamped 4 colours on this, so they had to like it up very carefully, then you have to press HARD (or pound, in Miranda's case).
To make yellow they use saffron, for blue, indigo, for red, sugar cane, onions to make grey, limestone for white, mango leaves to make green, and iron oxide for black.
To accelerate the colours they put it in a bath of something or other,

laid it on the marble block to check the work, then gave it to us. FUN!!! Too bad we don't have a photo of how good it looked when the colours came out.
Of course, when the fun is over, they want to show you their shop (surprise!! they want to sell you something!!). There were SO many things in there! Every wall, stacked right up. It is organized by product, then size, then you point at one you want to see, or they start pulling them out in a colour you like. We looked at tablecloths, wall hangings, and bedcovers. Randy, to my surprise, liked the bed covers, so after seeing about 100, we decided to buy a silk/cotton blend with elephants on it. It was my favourite design, but not my favourite colours, but it was close.
When they show you stuff, they unfold it, then spread it out on a table or counter for your viewing pleasure. Even when you say "No I don't like that colour" they still do it. At first when I would see stuff in a shop I would feel bad that they would unfold so many things that I would never buy, and I would feel guilty for all the additional work. Now I don't. First off, there are always about 12 employees more than they need, who spend their whole day refolding stuff that someone like me has not purchased. Secondly, I always SAY I don't want blue, or no paisley or whatever, and if they don't listen, how is that my fault. Plus, they always think they know what you want even if you have told them the exact opposite. So, as punishment for not listening, someone can refold! In this case, I think we had 20 or 30 bed covers on our laps, and it was HOT! I wasn't really sure how I felt about the bedcover idea - I have always prefered duvets to a bedspread, but I LOVE IT!! it is too hot for much more than a sheet, but it looks better. and it is so soft. And pretty. And it has elephants!


They sold turbans, too. Is it me?? BTW, a turban is 8 or 9 metres of fabric!Afterwards, we went back out to the work shed, and a guy was stamping this bedcover. It goes pretty fast. It is sort of like on a quilting frame, so they can roll in and get at the middle. A king-sized bed cover is pretty big! That shelf holds all the different stamps for all the different patterns.