Step 1 - Printing
In Bandhni Art many fabrics can be used like cotton, silk, wool, nylon. Fabric is to be spreaded on wooden table and a thin transparent sheet of plastic is placed, which has pin holes over the dyed area of the fabric. Artist uses ‘Gheru’ or Red oxide mixed with water to make the design patterns of dots. Then, the plastic is taken off the table.
Step 2- Tying
Now imprinted fabric is given to the Bandhni craft person. They use their fingers and thumb to tie knots. The decorative designs indicated by artists are sized and skillfully tied with thread.
Step 3 - Dying
After the knots have been tied, the small portion of fabric is covered by water proof material as per the color selections. Covered fabric will resist the dyeing color.
Then fabric will be dipped into hot water. Color will be added in the water. Artists’ uses wooden stick or hand gloves to soak the fabric in hot water. The small area below the thread resists the dye, thereby, leaving an undyed dot. The entire process is usually executed in several stages, which starts from a light color and gradually moving to a darker one.
Step 4 - Rinsing
Then the fabric is rinsed in plain water to remove the color impurities and again washed into the corn flour water to make the fabric soft.
Step 5 - Drying and Opening of Knots
Fabric will be dried in sunlight. Dry fabric is ready to use but before that Artist stretched the fabric to remove knots. All the knots will get removed by stretching them and beautiful color dots of numerous patterns will be created.
Tie and dye, popularly known as bandhani, is a famous traditional handwork of the Kutch district. Bandhanis are very closely associated with deep rooted social customs. It is treated as a symbol of married life. It is a must in the marriages of Hindus and Muslims. Discovery of dyed cotton fabric dating back to the Indus valley civilization shows that the art of dyeing using mordant was well known to the dyers, 5000 years ago. Tie and dye still continues to have an important position in Gujarat. Its done by Hindu & Muslim Khatri community Tie work is done by women. The cotton, pure silk & other cloths are used for making bandhani.