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Block printing is an ancient craft form of Rajasthan that is hugely practiced  till date. The process of doing block printing flourished since the 12th century when the art received a royal patronage from the kings.

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The industry visited is located in sanganer. Sonava printers is aproximately 150 year old. They are one of the leading exporters, manufacturers and suppliers of hand block printed home furnishings and cloth materials

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The blocks of different shapes and sizes used for block printing are called bunta. The base of the block has the design carved on it.
There are two types of blocks used :
1. wooden blocks - commonly found
2. metal blocks - rarely found  (used only for pigment print).
price ranges of these blocks (bunta) vary from Rs 25 - Rs 2000. Metal blocks are slightly steep in price compared to the wooden blocks.
these blocks were bought for Rs 200.

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There are 6 different types of printing techniques practiced by sonava printers namely -
1. Pigment print - chemical base and weather doesn't affect.
2. Rapid - in rapid red and back pigments are never boiled whereas the indigo soles which include blue, green, orange, etc. are boiled. In rapid for example red color looks yellow while making and on fabric it looks orange . When dipped in acid it turns red .Acid wash is done after 2 days for the color to brighten up properly. Depth of the color depends on the material used.
3. Dabu print - in dabu printing there is no outlining required, the print is done directly. A paste which is combination of gond, saw dust, fevicol (optional), clay, sand is applied onto the fabric and dipped into indigo well (12 ft deep). the part with the past doesn't get printed whereas the blank spaces get dipped with color. limitation of this is that fie printing can not be done using this process. Originally its done in indigo but azo free colors (non harmful) are also used.
4. Bagru print - used for printing and dyeing both. harda is the base color extracted from the flower of harda tree. Natural dyes are used. Either extracted from minerals of fruits and vegetables. For example: alum is used for red color , turmeric for yellow, henna for light green and ratan jot for deep green shade. There are 32 colors available. After printing the fabric is covered with a paste of tamarind seeds and boiled at a temperature of 80-100 degree Celsius. dovadia flower is used as a fastener and algerine is used for nourishing the colour. for example : to make red colour apply alum and dip it in algerine and for black iron is used which is rusted for a month.
5. Discharge - chemical process . carving of colours . negative postive spaces.
6. Black and White - is again a natural process. chuna is used for the colour printing. this process is used for black and white prints.

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Craft product bought : blocks and cloth samples of different  prints

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Craft product bought : blocks and cloth samples of different  prints

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The blocks were bought from the same place as the printed cloth pieces. Mr Pankaj Sonava the owner of the shop enlightened me with the various kinds of prints they use and the process.

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The value of the craft is decreasing as India is becoming more digitized. With digitization people are preferring screen printing over hand block prints as they look alike and less man power consumption hence faster the work. The market of hand block printing still pertains because of the people who believe in the craft. Hand block printers are also trying to keep this market alive by trying new variations for example the blocks which are now available in metal for fine printing purposes.

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Review on the craft on the basis of various aspects listed below :
1 Design - each block and each print is authentic in its self. In hand block printing every print is unique in itself.
2. Price - price per meter varies with the fabric material on which the block printing has been done . It starts from Rs 100 per meter.
3. packaging : as they are exporters and manufacturers they dont pay attention on the packaging. Plastic films are used in order to package these products.

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block printing being done