Dastarkhan, Floor Spread

Before the development of synthetic dyes, fabrics were dyed in natural dyes extracted from vegetable and mineral sources, which, unlike their chemical counterparts, penetrated the fabric through a lengthy process of beating, washing and sun-drying. Using the technique of resist-dyeing and resist-printing with blocks, the printer has created a glowing madder-dyed square field in the center, surrounded by borders having floral creepers on white ground using indigo, madder, pomegranate and other natural dye-stuffs.