I did a recce roadtrip in Odisha recently to explore the arts and crafts of the state. Sharing a few images from hand loom villages of Jagastsinghpur and Nuapatna. Jagatsingpur is famous for cotton Ikat and Nuapatna mostly for its tussar products.
Tussar silk is extracted from the cocoons of wild silkworms. After the cocoon is boiled, weavers (mostly women) gently extract fragile fibers from it and spin them into longer threads. The process of making a tussar garment takes a lot of patience, hardwork and precision right from the initial stage to the finishing stage.
Freshly dyed tussar yarn.
Ikat's single weft process. (Weft threads are those that are woven across the width of a fabric. Warp threads are the threads that run lengthwise through a fabric.) Ikat is a weaving technique where in the weft, the warp or both the yarns are dyed selectively through a resist-dye process so that the patterns emerge upon the criss cross of the yarns.
This process of dyeing is called 'Resist dyeing',(the plastic wrapped parts prevent the dye from entering those parts, and are later dyed with a different colour) and is used to make Ikat patterns.
Warping the yarn on the streets.
Dyed Ikat threads.
At the weaving village in Jagatsinghpur, the younger educated generation is moving onto different professions to earn more and have a better lifestyle. Women however have kept the traditions alive. After finishing their daily chores (which includes, cleaning the house, washing clothes, cooking meals 3times a day for the family) start working on their loom. The work requires good eyesight to spot minute mistakes and rectifying them at the right time as everything is done manually. And to do that they lean and stretch forward on the loom a lot of times through out the day. Due to frequent power cuts and low lit conditions it becomes more stressfull. I cant imagine the strength and stamina these women have and the amount of hard work put into making each product.
The finishing touch to the product is given by starching the saree and tightly wrapping it on the beam when it is semi wet. It is left out to dry in the sun for the entire day. This is also an ancient technique to iron the products after it comes out of the loom.
Modern cycle wheel 'charkha' (spinning wheel). The beautiful patterns on the wall in the background is called 'Chitta',it is made with fingers dipped in wet rice paste.
