15 Nov 2012

Visit to Pilkuwa - Women on Wings

A first Women on Wings field visit to Pilkuwa  

Pilkuwa is a block carving centre 

in the northern textile belt including Meerut, Panipat, etc. 

on route to the small yet prosperous town 
there is a railway station named "chippiyan Buzurgh" (printing venerable) 
is there a still older town than this town 



large blocks, streets at right angles, semi- covered drains

the houses are a large block with the ground floor dedicated to the cloth business 
& no women in sight
traditionally a block carving & printing "industry", 
graduated to canvas for military use in the 20th century 

now acidic printed towels, bed linen, etc. 
& some great examples of fine hand skill




BLOCK MAKING :
 the outline & color fill of the one motifs

Each block motif may have 4/5/6/7 parts
they say upto 100! for the famous Sooraj Mukhi pattern

each new color, line & fill demands an individual block
the image above show only two of many

the block maker


the units are small 3X5' cabins, that house a shelf of blocks & maybe two carvers. 
this street is chippiyan ka Mowhalla ( Printer's Street) 

PROCESS 
hard woods like indian rosewood (shisham), teak, etc. are used 
blocks for printing are carved on the vertical face of the wood to ensure durability
generally wood is used along the horizontal grain

the vertical face is high in compressive strength to withstand the impact while printing 


Sajawat Handicrafts  is one of the larger manufacturers here, a unit hosting 10+ carvers, finishing equipments, etc.

wire inlay 

so fine the pattern hardly visible 



Recently Azhar Kamal & his uncle have been jointly awarded the Certificate of Merit in block carving from the Government 



exploring the skills, product

Dhanya vaad = Danke Well


Image Credits : Irma van Zand

1 Comments:

Blogger Irma van Zand said...

Beautiful blog Tanveen, it reflects my memory of the visit. Thanks again for letting us into your world!
Love, Irma

10:56 pm  

Post a Comment

<< Home