Zardosi Work - Yadgiri, Karnataka
Firstly, the artisan takes the required size of cloth or the fabric on which the embroidery has to be done. Here they usually prefer satin, velvet, cotton, or silk cloth for attractive results. Then placing carbon paper on the selected fabric, a sheet containing various floral designs is placed over it to use as a stencil to trace the imprinted designs onto the fabric. This outlining is done with the help of a pen or pencil. Some artisans also go for freehand drawing than tracing out pre-prepared sketched. Once done, both the sheets are removed and the fabric is then secured on an embroidery hoop or a wooden frame to start the thread work. According to their plan, the first stick beads or coloured stones on the fabric at appropriate places with the help of fabric glue, and then advance to thread embroidering, once the beads dry up. Here the choice of beads, stones, and thread colour is left to the artisan’s wish. Various kinds of stitching like running stitch; satin stitch and couching stem stitching are used to make the Zardosi embroidery. For this purpose, a crochet-like needle is fixed to a wooden stick called “Aari”, which is believed to speed up the task. Here the process goes like, when the needle is pushed through the fabric from the top, the craftsman holds a retaining thread below the fabric, which gets pulled up at the hooked end of the needle. In this manner, the fine stitches create a dense mesh of exquisite work of art.
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