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The fabric craft of Jaipur is
dominated by ingenious tie and dye and block prints with vegetable dye.
These two styles of printing are synonyms of Rajasthan. The tie and die
is used on apparels while the furnishings are generally in block prints.
The print motifs are mainly flowers, creeper, camel and elephant. They
are printed by hand with wooden blocks. For each motif there are two blocks.
One gives the outline in a dark shade while the other one fills in different
colors in different portions. The dyes are made of various flowers, leaves
and stones and mixed with natural gums for adherence. Some of these dyes
have the amazing quality of cooling in summer and warming up in winter.These
special dyes are used generally to print on the lightweight quilts. The
fabric used for apparel and furnishing is handloom and coarse cotton. This
is because the absorption of the vegetable and natural dyes are best in
this fabric. While in apparel saris and salwaar kurtas steal the show,
in furnishing the lovely bed covers that come with matching pillow covers,
lightweight quilts, and bed covers with traditional sozani embroidery and
curtain lengths are very popular. Apparels and furnishings in these prints
are seen very commonly in summer, as the fabric is very cooling.
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