India! Wonderful India!

2019 is going to be the year of India for me!

I was invited by Colouricious to host and teach on one of their fabulous Textile Holidays to Jaipur. 

I was beyond excited and spent the year before the holiday developing a course 'The Jaipur Journal' to teach whilst on the trip.

These textile holidays celebrate the art of Block Printing using traditional wooden blocks , hand carved in sustainable hardwood.  It is a joy to be able to observe and experience the continuation of this heritage craftsmanship.

In addition to visiting  the breathtaking cultural sights of the area and the workshops of a  range of traditional local crafts people we have hands on workshops with some amazing printers.

Being shown the techniques of Block Printing by the artisans themselves is such an honour! We watch them print many metres of fabric by hand. Their speed and accuracy is astonishing to behold. Some fabric prints are made up of 4 or more different hand carved blocks, each with a different colour, to make one pattern.

For me, what a joy to be able to also teach in the beautiful gardens of  our hotels with birds singing and chipmunks running in the trees and monkey's on the rooftops!
We spent 4 happy mornings together painting onto fabric and handmade paper. And we shopped for and experimented with adding beautiful embroidered braids and embellishments to add to our journals.

This is a little You Tube video link of some of the pages in my journal.

Colouricious Jaipur Journal

And here they are working in the beautiful garden. These photos are from 2 trips to Jaipur.

How lucky that in all I visited India 4 times in the last year with Colouricious. Each trip was very different, each time getting to know such wonderful travelling companions. India is the most extraordinary place that I don't think I will ever tire of visiting.