**** A Note From Jane ******
I am traveling with Gale Anderson Palm from Rimby, Alberta and I’m so glad that she is along for the ride. She is becoming my experienced guide book and so far she is still patient with me answering all my questions about, well … everything.
We both woke at 3 in the morning listening to completely new sounds … the call to temple so early in the morning, the most amazing car horn sounds you’ve ever heard and music blasting from passing trucks (much better music than boom boxes). It is my first morning in India so I have to record every memory. Later in the morning we head to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. It is known as the Pink City because of the colour of the earth in that area.
We started our day with Sweet Lassi’s, yum, yum, yum.
Later we visited the Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing in the historical Amber town amongst crumbling havelis and temples. It is dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of hand printed textiles. The museum is a UNESCO Heritage building.
The hands in the photo of someone printing are mine. I took a stab at registering a small print. One layer was printed, then another printing on top and then the border. It is definitely a 2nd :^)
We ended our day in Jaipur visiting an Anokhi store where believe or not, I had to buy a few things. After seeing the mud resist printing in Bagru and now after visiting the Anokhi Museum I am just beginning to understand that the creating of a hand blocked printed piece of fabric is an astounding achievement.
I have watched it happening in videos but to see it in real time puts the entire process in a different light. Oh my gosh, it is amazing.
Each piece of cloth is resisted, printed, scoured, resisted again, printed again, scoured again, resisted again, printed again, scoured again…..until the final fabric has all its colours and pattern. Some patterns are handled 14 times.
