Gujarat Travels in Jan, Jaipur Sketching in Feb 2024

 I like to write a review after a tour- helps me summarize for myself what I found, let's you have a little insight into our travels too.

Ahmedabad, it had been too long. We always stay at The House of MG  I think it is my favourite hotel anywhere and feels such a wonderful haven in busy Ahmedabad.

Interestingly they have just had a copy of the Constitution written on the front door- a much needed reminder at the moment in India.

Every vista in the hotel catches your eye. They have a staff member whose sole job is to look after the Flowers! What a job.

On tour I always learn new things about the places we visit- which keeps it fresh for me.

The warm welcomes and hospitality of people astounds me. We always visit the Gods at the start of an Indian trip if we can- a very local culture thing to do. We visited the Swami Narayan Temple in Ahmedabad and just happened upon a woman who visits each Sunday- she introduced us to the Nuns that live there and then took us to the dining hall as guests for lunch. So kind and made us all feel special.

Then we buzzed around the World Heritage listed Old City of Ahmedabad in tuktuks.

There is a wonderful Stepwell we always visit and a mosque next door I always enjoy a chat with the Iman. He is only a young fellow and attained the position not long before Covid. Welcoming and friendly, but times have changed- he looked harried and there were a group of youth who were being disrespectful - a very sad state of affairs India. 

Read the constitution guys, again you are not living up to it. Minorities are feeling nervous, like the world over for political gain politicians try and set up an us and them situation to divert attention from themselves.

The Stepwell is a magical place, fun to explore and take Bollywood style pictures.

And on we travelled, so good to catch up with many long term friends- people we met at craft events and later visited on our summer holidays in Kutch and now take a tour groups to.

Our group really worked hard at "helping the local economy" and through our group chat and still making their way through their stash back home. They have a wardrobe with many great memories attached.

It is fun to let your hair down somedays- as bus therapy we tied these fine cotton scarves I got from our Bengal weaver and when we visited the Ajrakh printers of the Khatri family Sufiyan very kindly dyed them for us in his Indigo Vat [ isn't it great having mates with indigo vats at the ready?]

And we decided to do a bit of a Bollywood photoshoot out in the White Desert. Fun times!

There was a guy out their with sparkly local costumes and everyone got dressed up and shimmied for more pictures- a real hoot.

This beautiful Madrasa on the way to the batik man I have tried poking through the crack many times to see what was inside- lo and behold the door opened this day and we were all invited inside.

This section is where pilgrims stay when visiting the mosque. So kindly welcomed inside and our curiosity quenched. 😊

Learnt something new at the Batik guy, Shaquil's place. When the cloth is washed it is always thrashed on a stone after- this thrashing actually straightens out the fabric and the edges sit flat. It does not need ironing after this. 

We are new to textiles in a way at our workshop- after natural dying Praveen washes in a washing machine and hangs it out to dry- the edges are always crinkly and have to be ironed before cutting- this is the traditional method to fix that.

Hmmm 

We have know Sujna Ben for years and taken workshops with her, always through Somaiya Kala Vidya,. She has taken their courses and really stepped up as an entrepreneur and is running classes from home. Fabulous to visit her, I can see how proud she is with her attainments.

We saw wild Asses on the salt flats of the Little Rann of Kutch and visited some of the salt harvesters. Everyone was touched at the challenge of their lives.

Danced in the evening at our Camp Site near the Little Rann.

The Sun Temple at Modhera is nearly 1000 years old, it is a place with a very warm and welcoming ambience. The sun always seems to be shining and it is saying come and visit. I know that sounds a bit fanciful but every time I go there I hear that.

We lived in a 1500 century Palace for a few days, chilled out, used the jeeps to visit the local sanctuary. You make a wish and put a terracotta horse under the tree.

Great place- so sad to see the government has decided to make it easier to access, and destroyed hundreds of horses as the move them and pave the area. Really what are they thinking?

Old Dadar, the gate keeper of the Fort /Palace loves to have his photo taken and he proudly escorted us around the village to explore all its nooks and crannies.

We had a great group of people to travel with-, some knew each other from previous trips others were newbies. I loved the way everyone folded in together and we felt like old mates very easily.

Thank you to the kind hearts of everyone.

One woman needed to sit up the front travelling, she was inclined to "help" the driver drive. I am usually pretty easy going with people BUT the one rule of the bus is always Let the Driver Drive, your help could actually be a big distraction.

I had to nudge once or twice then she said " ohh I do this at home" hmmm maybe it is not helpful and looking out the window and letting the driver drive is good for my anxiety and the drivers.

I got an email from her saying she has been on jaunts with her husband and he was smiling as he drove. It brought tears to me eyes. We can all have insights along the way- they help us in our life. It is good to recognise them. [ xx A good on you]

After Gujarat it was a quick flight up to Delhi to meet up with Leonie Norton and a group of sketchers and head to Jaipur.

I learnt a lot about Jaipur traffic- it is a pain to get around, patience is needed. Usually Jaipur is a place we buzz through for a few days and you don't notice it as much. 

For another sketch tour it has some great opportunities but it would be good to spend a night or 2 at a country palace along the way..... always things to refine when arranging tours.

We have all have challenges in life.

It is your attitude and reaction to such things that determines their impact on you and those around you.

My yoga teacher says- lift the edges of your lips UP- it really helps with everything.

People teach you things along the way.

Lovely places to visit and some wonderful work was made

We visited the Elephant Village- interesting conversation about domesticated elephants. I learnt Government decree is that their will be no breeding allowed, so the old girls you see will be the last domesticated elephants once they pass.

Our girl was Rani, she was happy to stand there and be fed by her mahout, his kids came over and tangled around her legs, she was not interested in us until a camera came out and she posed. 

We noticed that- and watched it happen Elephants are perpetual motion creatures but if you brought the camera up she would stop and kind of lift her face to you. Such a gorgeous girl - a delight to meet her.

Meet Rani- isn't she elegant in that pose?

Our palace in Jaipur

Lots of gentle interest in our sketchers- lovely way to meet locals.

There are lots of great places to sketch- look at that roof.

I knew we could not draw in the Taj, but thought I had found the perfect alternative. The sunset point across the river. Praveen and I did a reccy there in August, chatted the gate keeper and he was happy for me to sit and sketch at that time. BUT apparently in the crowds of peak season it is not allowed. 

Bit of a grrr moment but it was noice to be part of an excited crowd watching the light change and make photos for later use.

Ohh well, we tried.

The colours, and the sunsets all add up to a romantic place to sketch and wander.

Saying sunset made me think of Sunrise and a jaunt to the flower market- so beautiful Our gang made this Chai sellers morning- cheers everyone for a great memory.

Gandhi inspires me

Be the change you want to see in the world

150th Anniversary of Gandhi's birth. What would he say if he could see India now?

He did say

"I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any"

#inclusion #freedom #openarms #tolerance #fairtrade

Monsoon time

Building
Raining
Building
Raining
a bit of both- good news about the rain is everything is green and it does settle the dust to some extent.
Managing to keep going in all the chaos in a sort of, kind of.... hopefully type of way.
Boys are slowly getting our mound of saris ironed, not even a third of the way yet but a little dent happening,
Training new women on machines is progressing- Ms S is right onto it, good quality just needs to improve speed but she is already on the first rung of 'kariger' or tailor and we can see we will be able to advance her wages in the next few months as she equals production of some of our men.
Yeh, what an incentive to the others as well.
My new blockprint young man, is coming along fine- threw him a curve ball yesterday keeping the checks straight for our loose dress, not as easy as you might thing.... concentrate horizontal and vertical wants to drift off to the side, concentrate vertical and horizontal wants to wander. Need to keep your mind on it and keep those fine adjustments happening. He was a little frustrated there for a while, there is no easy fix, just observation and fine corrections. By the evening I think it was settling with him and the work he printed looks fine. Poor boy- this is all during humid weather so you are always double checking humidity is not going to make colour run, a problem that does not happen most of the year. So he is getting full training and is going to be an excellent printer.

Still trying to get orders out of the production room and squeeze in little bits and pieces for smaller clients

AND 

do new samples and a small run of each to see it works and give us something to load on Amazon.

All is sort of crazy.

I have been writing up a note to go on our wholesale page. We use khadi and natural or traditional dyes and blockprint- why ? because we are masochists I think some days, there are so many variables involved and the possibility for faults, they take a lot of work, can lead to a lot of frustration .... and then you come around to the why?

WHY?

because they carry the imprint,

the soul perhaps of the hand that made them

they have a connection to real live people

they are special because that vibe goes with them, I think [and yes some days I think I am nuts and masochistic!]

I have always wanted to make everything myself, just like my dear Nana C taught me and this is carrying on in that same vein.

connection

Tours are ticking along, Bengal is all organized, I do have a few more spaces feel welcome to join us.

Morocco is filling up as well, but we can still take a few more 

Rajasthan and Gujarat for next year late 2018! are getting more and more names on the list....I need to start and firm up dates so people can dream and more importantly plan so it comes about :)

and already I have a whole batch of people lined up to join us in Vietnam in 2019!! yippee

 I know we already have a keen list waiting for January 2019 to go to Ghana

Boy, I was hot and a little bothered as I mentioned tours, the humidity of monsoon really gets to me, but once I started that list I realized how exciting it is with all these great trips to look forward to. It motivates me to push on with the workshop- our training and new system making is starting to pay off, it needs more tweaks but we are chasing it.

and it will take such a big weight off my shoulders. I can already feel it when I send Ms M or Ms L off to follow up on things i would once have had to do myself.

A little bit of yippee!! too humid for silly dances but you get the vibe :)

Enjoying our tour...

Having a lovely time...great travelling companions.
Getting to the time to create new tours.
Lately we have had emails, FB messages and now our group is asking questions. ...
Been working on Bengal to Bihar-Stitch Heaven and just this minute thought of a name....lots in place and lots of details to tick off. When will we get a minute?

Last few days been thinking there is so much more to mine in Gujarat. ... we think of Mandvi and Bhuj as our little escape and indulgence. ..we run away for a few days at the beach but really we have so many wonderful textile connections there.... we might polish up an itinerary.  Good excuse for another week end at the beach too.
Slow morning and then off to Ranakpur today....been using our Facebook page Creative Arts Safaris as a photo journal.

I think I am a tart...

Always in love with something new [Praveen is a permanent fixture] this is just the chase of an idea,
an inspiration, textiles....
it has been going on for a while out of the corner of my eye.
Toie de Jouy prints has caused a glimmer....
but it is growing...I just succumbed to Abebooks - again and bought a big luscious book on it...I am lining up to go back to the Printed Textile Museum in Mulhouse and the Museum of Toie de Jouy near Paris..itinerary for France tour now listed...excited!!

We are working on new samples for the garment fair in January and thinking block prints- what do we want to use?

I love this look- thinking a block with an Indian image rather than 18th century rural scene...a bit of fun?

All this and as well we have finally got our hands on a stash of handloom Silk Musru fabric all the way from the workshop of Sunil in Gujarat. This is a fabric I was starting to think was only to be found in antique textiles, there are very few workshops still weaving it.

Silk in a satin weave on the top surface and cotton below- lovely weight for a slip on simple jacket....

 You know I would be happy to drool over it for ever but we need to use it and sell it so we can order more and help keep Mr Sunil working away in his workshop

happy, happy and now back to pondering new block designs- we are off to see the carver next week....

what to do, what to do?

how much can you pack into a week?

 This time last week I got to check out MY camel cart and along with visitors from Australia we went for a spin around the Camel Festival...still hassling Praveen for a baby camel. He is adimant the answer is no, which is good truthfully but I can't help myself ...I keep asking to see how long before he caves. You should be careful what you wish for- you just might get it!!

 and look how gorgeous they are...I would love a few down the back paddock.

 Then we were off to Ahmedabad- excited to get away and because I was thinking it would be a little break, arrived and went walking...and that was the end to relaxing, once we hit the conference it was all systems go!

 This is the Subramati river, last time I took notice it was all slums along the banks and washer people making a living, now it is being remodelled and looks quite European...where do the poor people live now? Gurjurat has one of the highest rates of growth in India which is good for those on the train, those with education etc. Every once in a while you notice a small article pointing out that the poor people fair worse than in other places as the government does not look at them- swept under the mat...so I do wonder where they all went in this wonderful re-invention of the river, a life's blood to many.

We treated ourselves to a few days at the House of MG- I think it is my favourite hotel ever....food is fabulous, ambienece wonderful

 Our verandah...

They have bought up the beautiful old building next door....so soon there will be even more wonderful spaces to hang out in...

and then onto the confernce an initiative of the Austalian Indian Design Project - Sangam

so inspiring...and mind boggling- a lot to think about.

First though: Praveen came- quite nervously at first...he has not been to school so rocking up at University scared him, but he is dedicated to what we are doing, networking and learning more are important for us - so there he was. I am so proud of him.

His comment was- all the quick English was a bit of a headache for him to keep up with but it was worth it - good to see people of all levels working together from grassroots like us to contact with the highest reaches of governement

 

 A wide range of inspiring and passionate people- the gentleman furthest away Asif Shaikah an embroider from Ahmedabd- an exhibition of his work showed the finest and most equisite embroidery you could imagine- almost hard to belive a human hand can work so fine...he was celebtaing 20 years in his workshop, a thriving place and one small corner where the finest of Indian hand work is still alive.
Next is a women, I am sorry for my rudeness I did not get her name, she has worked for many years with the handloom industrylobbying for support and a better deal for handweavers... and then there is Irfan Bhai [Irfan Brother or as he is more formally known Dr Irfan Khatri a natural dye and blockprint master who has been recognized De Monford University for his expertise and tireless education of others in his field...something like 100 PhD sutudents have visited him over the years]. he was a good force to keep things real- it is the artisans and their conditions we need to look at first or this whole exercise will simply become something for museums- dead and dusty crafts.

 The National Institute of Design: Ahmedabad was our host- fabulous place, with a hands on approach to education.
Who else did we meet?
WOW! what an inspiring list, most important and relevant to us were people working with people like we do,
Medhavi Gandhi of Happy Hands in Delhi
Vandana Agrawal of Gramshree in Ahmedabad
Kala Raksha in Kutchh
The very passionate Ranwir of Shahaj in eastern Gurjurat
Bina Rao of Creative Bee...she offered the last words of the group discussions pointing out the URGENCY these things need to be addressed- we are loosing skilled artisans, world heritage treasures of experience held in their hands each and everyday....through lack of opportunity they are leaving home, travelling to cities and living in slums and building roads...what a waste
These are just a few of the people we met personally, some working with self help groups, some running social enterprise [fair trade business]- all inspiring and most have been at this a long time...so inspiring they still have their sanity and their passion- we migth be just beginning but we can do it too.

 The treats just kept coming- this is work from one of the UTS students who visited us in July Maureen, when in Delhi she worked with our mate Sanju from Bihar at a 3 week workshop facilitated by Happy Hands and this is what she produced.

 Ashok Ladiwal of Vrindavan produced this equisite embroidery...he worked with an Australin Designer Michelle Jenks...can you see how it just floats on the fine net? it was showcased at the Sydney and the NY Fashion week- there the model wore a neutral coloured body suit not a neutral sheath like here...he had pictures from the Vogue spread it was in...and quietly whispered in Praveen's ear- did you see the model overseas she was naked??? here she had a dress- I explained the body suit and suggested they wanted to showcase the finess of his workmanship it seems to float on air. I don't think he was upset by the use of his work at all, it was just Praveen was the first person who had come along who might have known what was happeneing and he was comfortable to ask.

 Walter-G were part of the Jugal Bandi exhibition- we were admiring their work and bubbling with excitement because on our way home we were popping into to see our mate Hemant of Sakshi near Jaipur

 My boys the movie stars- Hemant and Praveen picking up a box of sweets as we were off to see Om-ji and Shankar and get our first small pieces of indigo dye done on our handlooms to be used in quilts...how cool will they be? and carbom footprint? hand spum, handloom, indigo dyed...handstitched no electricity in production until they meet out machines to assemble...and all the lusciousness of indig colour [Ok just a little excited!!]

Om-ji was printing this beautiful Chanderi silk cotton sari...the white is discharge paste so when washed this will become a beautiful subtle white in the design....Chanderi weaves almost float on air...

 and look who we met along the way -Lauen and Genivive of Walter-G...just arrived to work on their next collection in indigo
what a truely inspiring and fortuitous week of meeting passionate people working with good heart...lucky, lucky us :)
May your week hold such pleasures