India Blog!

Okay, last entry about Jaipur - I promise! But the place was so filled with amazing photographic opportunities, that I had trouble deciding what to post! At the end of our day in Jaipur, we wanted to do a little shopping - this place is home to many types of handicrafts, namely blue pottery and silver crafts. The town also specializes in fabric printing called block printing, and at this government sponsored emporium we got a live demonstration of how it is done. The colors are all made out of natural vegetables and patterns are stamped and then reverse stamped onto special fabric treated with minerals, and finally the whole thing is soaked in turmeric water to solidify the dyes.

So far, I've found that handicrafts are a big trade in India, but Jaipur seems in particular to be a place that supports the arts - even the City Palace, where the current maharaja lives, boasts its very own painting school that trains and sells the work of artist who do incredible detailed fine-tip paintings in natural colors and gold leaf.