First the cloth according to the design. Since Bandhani is a textile pattern one can make Panjabi Dress as well as Saree from bandhani. So the cloth is cut according to the kind of the dress it will be. The person who cuts the cloth is the one who transfers design on the cloth. Hence after cutting he sits to transfer the design through Farma.
Farma is a transparent plastic sheet, on which the design is created first. This design is created either by Professional Designer or by Wholesaler or sometimes by the craft people themselves. In this case, the craft person is the designer and he sells his design to the wholesaler. Once the design is approved they create small pin holes in the plastic sheet. With the help of these pin holes Design is transferred on the cloth.
Once the Farma is ready , thebundle of the cut cloth is laid on the ground. Then the Farma is put on top of it. Then with the help of the colour water and Squeeze the design is transferred on cloth. Since the size of the cloth is big, for good transfer, this process requires two people to do it. Once the Design transfer is done this person sends this transferred cloth to the wholesaler who, later Distributes to the ladies who during their free time do the “Bandhej” work.
Once the design is transferred and delivered to the wholesaler, he distributes these clothes to the Ladies. Bandhejis mostly done by women. These women come to the wholesaler everyday to collect the new design for Bandhej and to return the ready Bandhej which then goes for colouring. When these ladies come to collect the cloth for Bandhej, along with the cloth, they are provided with thread rolls. Tie & Dye Cluster, Kolsiya IICD Jaipur Revised DPR Page 15 of 192
Bandhej means tieing knots in the specific pattern. This knot is tied because when this tied cloth goes to colour this knot doesn’t let that part catch colour so it stays white or whatever colour of cloth has. Bandhej is the main part of the bandhani making. Bandhej is the process which is repeated many times in the making of one Bandhani. Every bandani mostly has bandhej two times. First time when it’s distributed to Ladies for bandej and then when it goes colour. If the bandhani has two colours as base colour then the people who colour the cloth, also tie a big bandhej which is different than the small bandhej done by ladies based on design. Basically there are two types of Bandhej:
This Process is mostly done by women at home. So once the distribution of design cloths is done to these women, they do the bandhej at home. Bandhej for design is a very fine small bandhej which needs time and accuracy. Once this bandhej is done it goes back to wholesaler and they send this cloth for colouring. Once the colour is done if design needs more bandhej, then it again goes to the ladies for one more bandhej and then again for colouring. Bandhej for Basic colour This Bandhej is done when the cloth is sent for the colour and it is done by the person who is colouring the cloth. This bandhej is done using polythene and plastic thread . After this bandhej it goes for the colour. After colour this polythene are used again for the bandhej for other similar bandhej. If the design demands more small and different bandhej it again goes for design bandhej. If not then after colour they left it open to sky to dry. In summer it takes around 4-5 hours to dry, in monsoon sometime it takes 2 days to dry in and in winter it takes 6-7 hours to dry
This Bandhej is done when the cloth is sent for the colour and it is done by the person who is colouring the cloth. This bandhej is done using polythene and plastic thread . After this bandhej it goes for the colour. After colour this polythene are used again for the bandhej for other similar bandhej. If the design demands more small and different bandhej it again goes for design bandhej. If not then after colour they left it open to sky to dry. In summer it takes around 4-5 hours to dry, in monsoon sometime it takes 2 days to dry in and in winter it takes 6-7 hours to dry
After Bandhej for Colour is done it goes for colour. It is not necessary that every piece of design have Bandhej for Colour. Some might have only design Bandhej. This kind of cloth directly goes for colour. Again the person who has designed it decides colours. Once the colour is made then they dip cloths into it for around 1 -1.5 minutes per cloth. Then it goes for drying. This process is used when base colour is light and the colour, which will now be added, is dark. If it is other way round they have to do another process, which is called ‘wet colouring’. In that materials are same but it is done on the stove. After colour it goes for Drying or for removing Bandhej.
The drying is done on the terrace. Drying takes some time depending upon the weather conditions. In monsoon it takes around 1.5-2 days to dry while in summer it takes only 4-5 hours. In winter it takes around 6-7 hours for drying. After Drying if there is more bandhej required, then it goes for bandhej.
The finished products are then inspected for quality checking, price tagging and later on are dispatched to showroom / outlet.