Indigo, madder, turmeric, pomegranate: behind every colour of a block print fabric, there is a plant, a mineral, a know-how.
Our artisans in Jaipur do not open a Pantone colour chart: they prepare dye baths from living materials, as has been done for more than four millennia. Here is the story of these pigments, and what they reveal about every Kirane piece.
Indigo, the king of blues
If we had to choose just one colour from block print, it would be indigo blue. Extracted from the leaves of Indigofera tinctoria, a legume cultivated in India since antiquity, indigo dye is one of the oldest in the world. The Egyptians used it to dye mummy wrappings. The Romans called it indicum: the material from India.
The dyeing process is a spectacle in itself. The indigo plant leaves are harvested, soaked in stone vats for several days, then beaten vigorously to oxidise the pigment. The liquid turns from yellow-green to deep blue under the effect of air. The pigment does not exist in the plant itself: it is born from transformation.
Did you know? Indigo has a unique property among dyes: it does not dissolve in water. To dye a fabric, the pigment must first be chemically reduced in an alkaline bath, then oxidised on contact with air. This process explains why a fabric comes out of the vat yellow-green and only turns blue when drying in the open air.
In our workshops, indigo is used both as a background dye and in direct block printing. The final shade depends on the number of passes through the bath: a single dip gives a pastel blue, ten successive passes produce a near-black indigo.
Madder, the red of the earth
Red is the other great colour of Rajasthani block print, and it comes from the roots of madder (Rubia tinctorum). This creeping plant grows for three years before its roots are sufficiently charged with pigment to be harvested. The roots are dried, ground into powder, then boiled to release alizarin, the molecule responsible for that characteristic brick-red hue.
Madder is inseparable from world textile history. It was the dye that coloured the uniforms of Napoleonic armies, Japanese kimonos, and of course the printed textiles of Rajasthan. In Sanganer, madder has been associated for centuries with fine floral patterns on a white ground.
Madder and mordant. Madder does not bind directly to cotton. It needs a mordant (a metallic fixative) to adhere durably to the fibre. Alum gives a bright and luminous red. Iron gives a dark brown, almost black. One single bath of madder, two different mordants, two radically distinct colours.
On Kirane pieces, madder appears in a range that goes from powdery pink to deep terracotta red, through rust and coral tones. Each shade depends on the concentration of the bath, the mordant used, and even the quality of the water.
Turmeric and weld, the gold of Rajasthan
Yellow is omnipresent in Rajasthani block print. The main source is turmeric (Curcuma longa), that root better known in cooking than in dyeing. Dried and ground into powder, it releases curcumin, a sun-yellow pigment of remarkable intensity. Turmeric is also a natural antiseptic.
The other source of yellow is dyer's weld (Reseda luteola). More lightfast than turmeric, it gives a warmer yellow, leaning towards gold.
The fruit of the harda (myrobalan, Terminalia chebula) plays a less visible but essential role. Used as a natural mordant, it gives a pale yellow tint to the fabric before dyeing and prepares the fibres to better absorb pigments.
Sanganer and Bagru. These two cities of Rajasthan, only 30 km apart, embody two distinct traditions. Sanganer is known for its fine floral patterns printed on a white ground, with vivid colours. Bagru favours broader patterns on tinted grounds: that yellow-beige obtained from myrobalan, or a deep black from iron and mud.
Mordants, the invisible chemistry
Natural pigments, on their own, do not hold on cotton fabric. An intermediary is needed, the mordant, which forms a chemical bridge between the fibre and the dye. This is what explains why an authentic block print fabric retains its colours for years, while a poorly fixed synthetic dye fades within a few washes.
Alum. Naturally sourced aluminium sulphate. Produces bright reds, pinks and luminous yellows. It is the most widely used mordant in Sanganer.
Iron. Iron acetate obtained by rusting nails in palm vinegar. Darkens all shades: madder turns brown-black, myrobalan turns deep grey.
Myrobalan. Extracted from the myrobalan fruit. A universal pre-mordant that prepares the fibre and lightly tints the ground in pale yellow. Indispensable in the Bagru tradition.
The art of the dyer lies in mastering these combinations. A single bath of madder will produce brilliant red on an area mordanted with alum, deep brown on an area mordanted with iron, and leave no colour at all on an unmordanted area. The artisans exploit this principle to create multicoloured patterns in a single dye bath.
The dabu technique, resist to reveal
Dabu is a resist printing process: instead of applying colour, a paste is applied that prevents the colour from penetrating. The fabric is dyed, the paste is removed, and the pattern appears in negative: light on a dark ground.
The dabu paste is an ancestral recipe made from four ingredients: black clay, lime, wheat husk and gum arabic. This paste is applied by block onto the fabric, exactly like ink in direct block printing. The fabric is then dusted with sawdust and dyed.
The dabu crackle. During drying, the clay paste naturally cracks. The dye seeps into these cracks and creates a network of coloured veins on the reserved pattern: a unique crackle effect, impossible to reproduce by machine.
The process can be repeated several times to build complex patterns with three or four colours. An elaborate dabu fabric can require up to two weeks of work.
Why natural pigments make the difference
Colours that live. A fabric dyed with natural pigments never has exactly the same colour from one batch to another. This variability, far from being a flaw, is what makes each piece unique. The colours also evolve over time: they soften, develop a patina, gain in depth.
Deep penetration. Natural pigments, combined with mordants, penetrate to the core of the cotton fibre. If you turn over a naturally dyed block print fabric, the pattern is visible on the reverse. Synthetic inks, on the other hand, stay on the surface.
Minimal environmental impact. Natural pigments are biodegradable. The rinse water contains neither heavy metals nor volatile organic compounds. The energy used for preparing the baths is essentially human.
Preserved textile properties. Unlike chemical dyes that can stiffen the fabric, natural pigments do not affect the qualities of cotton. A khadi dyed with turmeric remains just as soft and breathable as an unbleached khadi.
3,000 families, one expertise
Approximately 3,000 families (over 20,000 people) make their living from artisanal block printing in the Jaipur region. They are the direct heirs of a tradition passed down within the same communities, the same villages, sometimes the same workshops since the Mughal era. Among these artisans, knowledge of pigments is not learned from a book: it is passed on through practice.
Each family masters its own recipes: the exact proportions of an indigo bath, the optimal maceration time of an iron mordant, the ideal consistency of a dabu paste. These recipes are not written down; they are part of an oral and gestural heritage.
At Kirane, we work directly with these artisans in our workshop at Villa Kirane in Jaipur. Also discover the commitment of the women of Villa Kirane, who contribute every day to keeping this craft alive.
Preserving natural colours
A slight colour bleed during the first washes is normal: it is the excess unfixed pigment being released, and it is precisely the proof that your textiles are dyed with real natural pigments. After two or three washes, the colours stabilise.
Wash at 30 °C maximum. Add one tablespoon of white vinegar per litre of water during the first two washes to fix the pigments. Always dry in the shade, as UV from direct sunlight is the number one enemy of natural dyes. For a complete guide, see our article on caring for block print home textiles.
Also explore: Sofa covers · Cushions · Tablecloths · Throws
Also read in Les Carnets Kirane
- Block print: the Indian technique that makes every Kirane piece unique
- Block print vs screen printing: why artisanal printing makes the difference
- Khadi: everything you need to know about this hand-woven cotton from India
- How to care for your hand-printed home textiles
Every Kirane piece is hand-printed and handcrafted at Villa Kirane, Jaipur.
