Kalamkari

Two schools of the art developed individually, both in the states of Andhra Pradesh, with different sources of influence.

Srikalahasti style that used the pen for drawing and filling in the colours, and with a strong influence of Hindu culture that specifically focused on religious subjects and scenes from the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata in its paintings.

The Machilipatnam style that came with an Islamic slant, had subjects of paintings mostly depicting flora and fauna, with floral designs as a backdrop on the fabric.

Both styles that have propagated Kalamkari have one thing in common – the depictions are fine, are neatly drawn, with an extensive use of organic colours which are fast, and there is no dilution in the skill and quality over the years.

Today’s Kalamkari has both these styles merged into one with different facets within the combined art.

• Kalamkari comes off beautifully on a whole lot of fabrics like silk, cotton, sico art silks such as georgette, chiffon, Supernet, crepe silk and others.
• With vegetable dyes being used, colours are fast and long lasting.
• Motifs with trees, creepers, flowers, leaves, birds are popular subjects and the saree is a large canvas providing ample scope for picturesque displays.
• Kalamkari saris in the printed variety have block prints featuring floral designs and geometrical patterns arranged in designer fashion. Modern abstract designs have also been included in recent times to resounding applause from the market.
• Despite the crude tools and limited resources, the Kamalakari exponent gives a flawless display of his skills. Gloss on the fabric comes from the traditional use of some natural substances such as myrobalan, cow’s milk, cow dung, seeds, plants and crushed flowers in the paintings. The etching of lines and applying of colour is done with a finely sharpened short bamboo piece which reflects the devotion and skill of the ethnic craftsmen

Srikalahasti Kalamkari is supposed to have come from the observance of an ancient tradition. Groups of singers, musicians and painters, called ‘chitrakattis’, moved village to village to tell the village dwellers great stories from Hindu mythology. Their narration was accompanied by illustrations of their accounts using large bolts of canvas painted on the spot with simple means and dyes extracted from plants.

This style flowered around temples and assumed a religious touch - scrolls, temple hangings, chariot banners and the like, depicted deities and scenes taken from the Hindu epics - Ramayana, Mahabarata, Puranas and the mythological classics were popular subjects for the Srikalahasti Kalamkari. On this account the art flowered under the patronage of Hindu kings.The process that makes use of only natural dyes in this style of kalamkari, is very elaborate and lengthy, but with delightful outcomes.

The Machilipatnam Kalamkari developed as an art form and found its peak during the rule of the wealthy Golconda sultanate, Hyderabad, in the Middle Ages. The Mughals who patronized this craft in the Coromandel and Golconda province called the practitioners of this craft "qualamkars", from which the term "kalamkari" evolved.

The themes that were chosen tended to be floral and decorative with the subjects chosen from nature. Different textile products produced from this style of work include wall hangings and clothing like, bed sheets, curtains, sarees etc. It once mainly used vegetable dyes alone but today makes use of man-made dyes as well, which are applied onto the fabric with the help of wooden blocks.

• Kalamkari paintings assumed popularity at one time as a currency form worldwide. It seems spices such as pepper, cloves, nuts in addition to special woods, oils and jackets were exchanged in several parts of Southeast Asia and Indonesia for specific wall-hangings and prominent art-works.
• The cotton fabric in Kalamkari work gets all the glossiness through the mixture of myrobalan (resin) and cow milk, on which bamboos are used to draw designs. As many as 20 colours can be used on the fabric. The cloth is washed every time, a new colour is added.
• In the 17th century, Kalamkari paintings were exported to Iran, Burma, the Persian Gulf, Maldives and Malacca. The craft gained immense popularity in the 18th century throughout Europe, with the fabric being used as draperies and bedspreads. The Kalamkari floral and vegetable designs were in great demand, in particular the motif known as the 'Tree of Life'. These fabrics were made into dresses, skirts and jackets and were also used as large wall hangings.
• There have been some recent applications of the Kalamkari technique to depict Buddha and Buddhist art forms. These stories depicted in the form of a series of horizontal panels with the script running through with the more important incidents receiving a larger layout.

Kalamkari is popular and available in many places across India, but in limited range and variety. Unnati Silks Kalamkari has a vast collection of extraordinary variety both online and offline.

The Kalamkari silk sarees online has Chanderi Sico with captivating prints, floral scapes, thematic imagery of flora and fauna in vivid detail and colorful spreads.

A range of soft cotton sarees with themes from the epics, mythological tales with dark fields and light borders and vice versa set off a delightful contrast that is eye-catching and captivating.

Cotton Kalamkari designer sarees as seen online have appliqué work done on them, as do the soft jute cottons.

Then you have a range of hand painted Dupion Silk sarees with thematic pallus. You also have an ushering in of the light summer breeze, with light covered motifs in light shades of bright hues. A lot of Kalamkari variety and plenty to explore with more added every now and then.

Kalamkari designs from Unnati have an appeal for the choice of colors, the judicious mix, the vibrancy of the colors used, the durability and a whole host of factors that are put to the test to explore possibilities and combinations, in an effort to give the market products close to its expectations. Cotton versions in Kanchi, Rajasthan and Mangalagiri with their own nuances and characteristic traits have produced outcomes that have elated beyond measure.

Kalamkari sarees are available in stores, pan India, since they have attained terrific popularity on account of their themes, the workmanship, the colors used and the novel designs every now and then.

Online shopping for sarees is the current trend and there are very many online websites that sell sarees of different fabric varieties. So you can see and choose cotton kalamkari sarees with online shopping along with price.