चदरिया * Tarapur Dabu Print 011

Description

Dabu Print (Tarapur Village)

Dabu Print is one of the resist hand block printing technique practiced in few clusters in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan states of India. A paste comprises of gum, black soil and lime used to print on clothes by wooden blocks then dipped it in Indigo blue dye vessel known as Indigo vat. Tarapur village of Madhya Pradesh is one of such village where Indigo dye practiced since last many centuries.

Today Dabu is synonymous with Indigo dye. Indigo was used widely in Dabu hand block printing because it was only known natural cold dye in the past. Indigo dye is extracted from Indigofera tinctoria plant, an indigenous plant to India and Asia but today synthetically produced indigo dye is used widely due to cheaper in rates and easy to maintain. Indigo was one of the natural dyes which were prepared synthetically in the lab during 19th century.  Since then synthetic Indigo also known as German indigo is used by the dyers all over the world due to its less price and easily to handle. Today natural Indigo is seldom used in Dabu printing due to its high cost and lack of availability. Its eco-friendly and semi-natural alternative used in Tarapur.