One 'skill' that I always wanted to have a go at while living in India, was block printing. Creativity is not my strong point, but Max was keen to join me for an afternoon session with a lady who specialises in printing fabric.
It was lovely to spend some time just with Max trying out something new. The competitive nature in the boys tends to have us arguing when we are all together. We chose from some blank materials: shopping bag, pencil case and scarf and then started thinning creatively.
The session was actually targeted at children but mums were welcome to join in and help where necessary. Max took pride of place at the head of the table and commenced mixing his colours and choosing his blocks.
There are two types of blocks - all wood and wood with metal inlays. We found the part-metal ones a bit easier to use probably because they don’t smudge as easily. And the smaller ones were also easier to work with.
We learned lots of facts about the various printing designs all over India - from Rajisthan to Gujurat to the South of India. Apparently, you can tell where a product is from based on the colours, motifs and designs used. Not so easy for this very unartistic mind but I do know that I love the bright colours of the Rajisthani desert and Indio blues of the rural Rajisthani area.
Not sure Max and I will win any awards but we really enjoyed it and are thinking of buying some printing blocks to have another go at home. Hope everyone is ready for some homemade Christmas gifts 😬
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| we chose our canvas - a shopping bag and pencil case |
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| the blocks available to us for the afternoon |
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| Max in action |
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| Max's final product |
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| and the pencil case |
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