It is well known all over the world for its hand-printed textiles, furniture, leather work, jewelry, painting, pottery and metal craft. The ethnic aura envelops even the simplest forms making each one a collector’s delight.
Fabrics of Rajasthan
Rajasthani fabrics are decorated with wonderfully vibrant colors. They use fabrics like cotton, silk, and wool to make attractive designs and textures.
Tie & Dye:
• This art is called ‘Bandhej’. In this the clothes are dyed along with the undyed points, giving a distinctive look. This is a highly skilled art.
• A DE-starched cotton fabric (it can be done by soaking it in water overnight) is used for ‘Bandhej’. Next, the design & patterns of the motif like flower, leaves etc. is prepared. Now the motif is tied according to your pattern with the help of threads.
• The beauty of the technique is in the fact the each & every way you tie will get you a new design every time.
• The complete cloth along with tied motifs is dyed now. After dying, washing and drying the fabric, all the knots are opened and the fabric is ready with extravagant patterns.
Block Painting:
Rajasthan is the heart of block printing. Most of the work is done by hand only. The art of block printing & dyeing is connected with home furnishing and fabric for personal wear. The main centers for the block printing are Sanganer and Bagru.
Jewelry of Rajasthan
Rajasthan is famous especially for silver ornaments. Each part of Rajasthan is known for its own distinct style of silver jewelry. The craftsmen of Jaipur, known for their high-quality enamel work, use enamel colors such as red, blue, white, black, green, yellow and golden which are derived from minerals.
Creatively crafted pieces of jewelry use combinations of enameling and Kundan work which are unique to Rajasthan. Kundan is the art of setting stones in jewelry.
Lac & Glass:
• Lac has mainly used bangles and decorative items. Lac bangles are made in bright colors. These bangles and decorative items are inlaid with glass and colored stone.
• The process of making lac bangles includes quite less technology & need a very less space. Making of lac is a quite tiresome process which involves a lot step to produce the shellacs.
• Lac shellacs are melted in a vessel & when it is in a semi-molten state, the mixture is stirred & attached on the end of the wooden stick.
• Then the lac attached to the wooden is slowly heated when the lac starts heating & softening it is pressed against a metal plate (Silla), simultaneously in intervals with a flat wooden tool locally known as HATTA.
• When lac is warm & soft, the colored lac of the desired color is heated & melted & then it is evenly rubbed along lac to achieve the color. After applying the color it is craftsman roll out the lac till a required length & thickness.
• The lac is converted into the shape of bangles and after that craftsman inserts a completed lac bangle into a wooden mandrel to give it a proper size & shape.
• Rajasthan is rich in jewelry, each area having its own unique style. Some of the traditional designs are rakhri, tirnaniyan, bala, bajuband, gajra, gokhru, jod, etc.
Furniture and Wood Carving
Rajasthan excels in the art of making “antique furniture”. Doors and windows, wooden jharokhas, tables with cast iron jaalis, sideboards, chairs, benches, jhoolas or swings, and dressers are made to resemble the furniture that was in vogue in Havelis a hundred years ago.
Marble tops for tables are also popular, and screens are available with both painted panels and brass embellishments. The range of paintings of the Rajasthani furniture is one of the special features of Rajasthani furniture.
These paintings are flexible having very distinctive styles of their own as these paintings are examples of rich craftsmanship. The color scheme is mainly traditional, bringing the impact of rich cultural heritage to the forefront.
Puppets:
Inexpensive souvenirs, they recall more easily than most other things when it comes to memories of a state of chivalrous kings and beautiful queens. Painted wooden heads, hands made simply by stuffing rags or cotton into the sleeve of the dress, with painted expressions, arched eyebrows, mustache for men and nose ring for women and large expressive eyes on their face, puppets are draped with dresses made from sequined old fabrics.
Leather-wear
The hides of dead animals have never been put to better use than in Rajasthan whether as Mojari jutis (the embroidered footwear) or as saddles, bags, and pouches. Jaipur and Jodhpur are the traditional centers for jutis.
Rajasthan with a treasure of history, picturesque architecture, magnificent art & culture and the bewitching landscape is an unparalleled destination.
