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Design Resource
Process of Bandhani
The Craft of Tie and Dye
by
Bandhani Bandhej
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:
• Bandhej for design
• Bandhej for basic colour
Bandhej for Design
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 as shown in photo. 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.
