Tie-Dye or Bandhani, as we call it...

I am sure the title explains it all.... but does it really??? (For those who dont know about tie -dye : It is technique of tie-ing some portion of fabric in a design pattern; resisting that part with threads and then dyeing the fabric in a colour. the resisted part remains white and the rest of the fabric takes colour. the white part can further be dyed by removing the threads and dyeing the fabric again in a darker color). But how and where to resist the fabric? That is a bigger question. There has to be a defined pattern in your mind and/or properly placed on a paper before tie-ing the particular fabric areas. So its a beautiful co-existence of uncolored part with the color flushed un-resisted fabric.

When I learnt to do tie-dye I thought I knew it.. and the first reaction was Ohh thats very easy and interesting way of creating patterns. Though naive at that time I hardly understood the beauty of this art. Its a painstaking, back screwing and eyes straining process of many hours. It requires patience, sincerity and a lot passion to create even a small handkerchief. Its very disheartening that back few days some known designers declared that tie and dye is fashion faux pas... and the worst in the fashion history. Excuse Me dearies I am sure they must be having some valid point for their such statement but do they really know tie-dye.. is it really that simple? Yea you might think u just have to tie some specific areas to create a design and then dye fabric... Its that SIMPLE!!!. It is a simple technique but the process is way complex. Without a specific thing in mind you might be creating weird and strange patterns. You cannot just start tie- ing or resisting the fabric without planning the outcome. But once the idea is clear one can come out with extraordinary designs.. but for that you need to have a very good sense of colors and designs yeah they will come alright even by an amateur. The beauty lies in the color and of course design is important too. On one of my trip to Jaipur, I met a craftsman, he told me the most practical yet overlooked aspect of dyeing/printing which over enthusiast and non technical designers miss while designing their clothes. That is color mixing!!!. You cannot expect a red color to emerge out of nowhere when the fabric has been already dyed out in black. And not all the color possibilities are practically do- able. So the 'designers to be' keep your thinking hat on while making some color ways.

Visit Crafts Museum, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi to appreciate the real master pieces of life time. And if possible try once, may be a small handkerchief in Tie-Dye.

In the next blog, I will talk about an interesting yet unpopular Tie-Dye technique... TRITIK.

Till Then....