Thursday, December 08, 2016

Wonderful find

We are back in Delhi...
Feel like a yoyo.
We are at the Pause for a Cause event, happy to find a lot of interest in our work... .we need it to be able to keep our Stitching Ladies' needles flying.
At the event are many beautiful saris and garments and a family selling magical shawls.
Really.
Work like theirs I have only seen in museums.
Long, long ago before the power mill India used to produce a highly desired extremely expensive item.
Wool a light as clouds,  softer than your fingers can quite comprehend combed from the bellies of some goat/ sheep type creature high in the Himalayas.
NOTE little bit of poetic licence in the story.
Real pashmina... Woven into shawls that were fine enough to be pulled through a wedding ring.
The really good ones were then embroidered with silken threads....the really, really good ones were completely covered in the smallest stitches that embodied years.... really quite a few years of careful work.
The colonial really loved these shawls....it inspired some guy in Scotland to get the power loom going and using the same designs develop a much cheaper version the beloved Paisley Shawl.
Today you can 'genuine' pashmina all over the place.... 100% pure and rare acrylic  and just a few dollars....up to genuine wool with Woven designs....to kashmiri shawls of wool and hand embrodiery- utterly charming and until you see something like I discovered pretty amazing and bold.
These ones are truly delicate and lux8in comparison.
A mother and son team. Mum has been working and training with a group of women for 30 years.... her son is now continuing the work.
We think visiting them at their home here in Delhi will become a beautiful experience on our new Rajasthan tour....
India has amazing textiles....amazing.
It is not often I am completely gobsmacked by something.
Yeh Indian textile heritage and those who help it continue into the future.
I have some pictures of the front but it is that backs that really rock my boat...the slightly abstract feel to the design.
Ohhh swoon.
Two more days at the event and 2 more days to siddle over and have a discrete grope!
Blogger is having a hissy fit and I can't load images....will see if Instagram likes them and so they will follow.

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