“KALAMKARI – Eco Friendly Fabric”
Literal meaning of Kalamkari is . ‘Kalam’ (Persian) means Pen and ‘Kari’ means Work or worker – “Pen work on Fabric”.
- Kalam (Pen) + Kari (Work) = KALAMKARI.
- Kalamkari fabric is being called by different names by different people.
- Portuguese call it as “PINTADO”
- Dutch call it as “SITS”
- English call it as “CALICO” or “CHINTZ”
- French called it as “TOILES PAINTES”
- Persians call it as “PALAMPORE” or “KALAMKARI”
Kalamkari process (with an average of three or four colours) would take about forty to forty-five days time to complete various processes involved in the production. The raw fabric undergoes upto 10 different processes, before the fabric or the made-up gets ready.
The process is linked to good, dry weather and a bright sun light is needed for drying the block printed fabric at every stage.
Kalamkari fabric attains the quality of special durability because of the Vegetable (Natural) colours used for printing and processing Block Printing conversion and colour fixing process is a sort of mystic magic as the colour during block printing will be different and after wash, it will be different. Bright sun helps in the process of colour fixation in the Fabric.