Sungudi Training programGandhigram 17th September - 19th December 2014

Sungudi

A Craft revival Program

Sungudi Training program A Workshop in Tying and dyeing

From 17th September - 19th December 2014

Venue: Gandhigram Rural Institute, Dindigal

Project undertaken by Kaivalam Foundation

Auras Corporate Centre, III Floor 98A, Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai,

Mylapore, Chennai 600004

Sponsored by Poompuhar,

The Tamilnadu Handicrafts Development Corporation,

Government of Tamilnadu, Chennai.

Documentation by: Anuradha Pashupathi

Contents

1

1 Introduction about the organisations 2

2 Sungudi 3

3 Sungudi Training Program 4

4 Resource Persons 6

5 Inauguration 7

6 Workshop Proceedings- tying 8

7 Workshop Proceedings- dyeing 10

8 Valedictory function 17

9 Product Pictures 18

10 Annexure : list of Beneficiaries 19

Introduction of organisations

Kaivalam Foundation:

Kaivalam Foundation - Continuing the craft initiatives of World Crafts Council.

Kaivalam Foundations mission is to bring crafts and craftspersons into the mainstream of life, connecting with the past through maintaining inherited traditions and looking into the future through the use of modern technology to experiment, innovate and reach out to new markets. Kaivalam Foundation emphasises the need to ensure dignity, respect and self-esteem to the craftspersons.

The trustees of Kaivalam foundation started this initiative to further the objectives of the World Craft Council.

The purpose of Kaivalam Foundation is to strengthen the status of crafts as a vital part of cultural and economic life, to promote fellowship among the craftspersons, to offer them encouragement, help, advice and foster economic development through income generating activities.

Poompuhar, Tamilnadu Handicrafts Development Corporation:

The Tamilnadu Handicrafts Development Corporation was set up in 1973 by the Government of Tamilnadu.

Named POOMPUHAR after a most ancient and fabulous Tamil coastal city, the aim of this Corporation has been to develop the handicrafts of Tamilnadu by providing support to the numerous artisans who have as their forefathers did, the making of handicrafts as their principal means both of livelihood and creativeness.

Poompuhar is committed to keeping alive the rich heritage of the crafts of Tamilnadu. Poompuhar also strives to preserve and promote the art forms of the culturally rich periods of Chola and Pandya Dynasties by producing replicas and artefacts from those times. Poompuhar has been the destination of lovers of traditional arts to obtain authentic and good quality stone and bronze sculptures, brass lamps, carvings in rosewood, sandalwood as well as country wood. They also have ornamental metal relief works.and Thanjavur paintings.

Poompuhar has 19 showrooms situated in important cities all over Tamilnadu and also at Pondicherry, Bangalore, Kolkata and New Delhi.

Gandhigram Rural Institute, Dindigul

The Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI) was founded in 1956. With undying faith and deep devotion to Mahatma Gandhis revolutionary concept of Nai Talim system of education, Gandhigram Rural Institute has developed academic programmes in Rural Development, Rural Economics and Extension Education, Rural Oriented Sciences, Cooperation, Development Administration, Rural Sociology, English and Communicative Studies, and, Tamil and Indian Languages. Students who emerge from its portals tend to meet the personnel needs for rural development under various governmental and non-governmental schemes.

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Sungudi

the exquisite tie and dye craft of Madurai

Sungudi whose beauty has inspired poets to compare it to twinkling stars on the vast expanse of a clear sky. This has prompted some to assert that Sungudi patterns are inspired by heavenly constellations.

The word Sungudi is derived from the Telugu word sungu meaning pleats in a sari. Sungudi refers to the patterning of fine cotton saris woven with a narrow zari border by pulli katradu (tie resist) and katta katradu (clamp resist) dyeing wherein selected parts of the cloth are bound with thread and resisted from receiving the dye. Sungudi uses kolam patterns, probably influenced by local practices.

Practised by the Pattunoolkarars of Saurashtra, history has it that they had initially settled in the Machilipatnam area of Andhra Pradesh, famous for its fine 120 counts cotton or muslin from where Raja Tirumalai Naik invited them to Madurai

Originally started as a Craft Revival program under the auspices of WCC, the trustees of Kaivalam Foundation proposes to conduct a Sungudi training program aimed at rural and underprivileged artisans in and around Gandhigram, to provide sustainable employment opportunities.

The making of Sungudi Saree involves both tying, and dyeing. Practiced as hand art, this textile requires a lot of patience and creativity in designing single dot patterns in two different shades.

Over the years, Sungudi like many other Crafts, lost out to cheaper and easier imitations. Block printing on material made on power looms, wax printing instead of the traditional tie and dye, has almost made Sungudi and its artisans extinct.

Earlier, the dyes used were natural dyes extracted from plants but with emerging industrialisation, only chemical dyes are being used. The greatest class of compounds used in dyestuffs are azo compounds. These azo dyes have been found to be potential carcinogens.

Hence there was an urgent need to renew the craft. The Kaivalam Foundation aims to revitalise the craft of 'sungudi' by training artisans in and around Madurai in the traditional tie and dye and by ensuring complete compliance to social and environmental concerns.

In keeping with its motto to be environmentally conscious Kaivalam Foundation is also adopting AZO FREE dyeing. All Training provided to the artisans is in Reactive dyes which is certified Azo free.

The artisans we had identified for this workshop were all people living in villagesin and around Gandhigram, Dindigul District (Kamalapuram, Keela Kottai, Melakottai, Nilakottai, Chettiapatti)

Their families were mostly dependent on agriculture and hence on the vagaries of the Monsoon.

The Kaivalam Foundation hopes that by learning this craft technique, we will be able to enable the women to have a continuous source of income

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Sungudi Training Program

Project Objectives:

The 27 artisans trained under the Kaivalam Foundations sungudi revival programme will now have:

Basic Skill development in the traditional craft of hand tying Sungudi Design Transfer methodology. Basic training in motif creation Training in Dyeing (Azo free nature friendly dyes) Clamp dyeing

The Training sessions were held on the 17th and 29th of September, the 7th, 13th and 27th of October, the 3rd, 17th and 25th of November. The final leg of the workshop was dedicated to dyeing and was held from the 15th to the 19th of December.

Methodology:

The participants were divided into groups and each person was given fabrics that had been marked out in patterns.

They were first taught how to make the ties by the master crafts-person, who went around to each group and demonstrated to them individually.

They also made their individual identifying marks on their works so their pieces would be identifiable even after it was dyed.

At the end of the session they were allowed to take the fabrics home with them to practice tying and complete the assigned task.

In the next session their work was analysed and critiqued and improvements suggested. Then they would move on to make finer, more complex patterns, repeating the same process.

These trials were then dyed. The participants were given their fabrics back and the knots were opened and the tied resist patterns were unveiled to their wonderment and joy.

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Activities:

1. Each participants progress was assessed and the results of their work was discussed and shared amongst their piers.

2. Based on pier and expert review prizes were awarded to encourage and motivate the participants

3. The dyeing workshop participants were taken through the processes of dyeing Azo free Reactive dyes.

4. All the processes pre and post dyeing were also addressed

5. A realtime shade card with recipes was created by the participants.

The objective of the workshop, namely to be able to prepare the cloth for tying, design transfer on the cloth, doing the ties, dyeing and finishing was successfully taught to the participants.

Samples of their work, viz. blouse pieces, sarees, yardages that were produced during the training program are available with the Kaivalam Foundation.

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Main Resource Persons

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Ms Anuradha Pashupathi.

Textile Designer.

Project co-ordinator

Mr Mahalingam.

Weavers service center, Bangalore

Dyeing resource person

Assisted by Prasath

Mrs Sarojama.

Master crafts-person.

Tying resource person

Assisted by Gayathri

Inauguration

Sungudi Training programme was spread over a 3 month period commencing on the 17th of September and concluding on the 19th of December, and was held at the premises of the Gandhigram Rural Institute, Dindigal. This event was sponsored by Poompuhar.

Three main resource persons were invited from Madurai, Bangalore, Chennai to teach the tying and dyeing techniques.

The workshop was inaugurated with a refreshing lack of ceremony on the 17th of September by Mrs Usha Krishna and Mrs Sudha Ravi, the trustees of Kaivalum Foundation. Mrs Revathi representative of Gandhigram was also present along with the participants of the tying workshop.

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Sungudi Workshop - Tying

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Another session with the Tying artisans .

The impetus of the workshop was to pass on the traditional art form of Sungudi to the next generation.

Below Sarojama can be seen giving one on one instructions.

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Mrs Revathi Rajaperumal representative from the Gandhigram also took an active role in the proceedings.

The representatives of Kaivalam Foundation gave constructive feed back and the dyed samples were opened by the artisans and comparative analysis were encouraged.

Sungudi Workshop- Dying

The Sungudi training program was split into 2 phases. While the first phase was concerned with the learning of the traditional Tying techniques, the second phase was about learning to work with the more modern dying techniques with Azo free nature friendly dyes.

Mr. Mahalingam from Weavers Service Centre, Bangalore was the main resource person for the dyeing work shop and brought with him not just his immense experience in this field but also an exuberance that was infectious.

This work shop compressed into an intensive five day training program.

The first day the nature of the dyeing techniques and formulas were discussed. Instructions were given on how to use the equipment efficiently and effectively. Then Mr. Mahalingam went on to demonstrate how the dyeing is done with the first pure colour in Reactive dyes

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Day two: light and dark shades were arrived at.

Day three: the concept of the colour wheel and colour theory was discussed and we went on to mix colours to get different shades.

Day four: more combination colours were arrived at and the process of how to analyse colours into its base components was taught.

Day five: all the colour that were dyed were consolidated, the methodology was re-caped and issues of pricing and logistics were discussed

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Processes involved

De-sizing1. Hydrochloric acid @7ml per litre of water. Water at the ratio of 20 lt to 1 kg of fabric. Soak

fabric for 2 hrs in solution bath at room temperature for 2 hrs. Wash and take to next process.or

2. ENXCC enzyme oil @5ml per litre of water. Water at the ratio of 20 lt to 1 kg of fabric. Soak fabric for 2 hrs in solution bath at room temperature for 2 hrs. Wash and take to next process.

or3. Soak fabric overnight in room temperature water at the proportion of 1kg fabric to 20 lt.

water(1:20). Wash throughly and take to next process.

Scouring Ingredients

Caustic Soda 0.5% (fine fabrics) upto 3% (thick fabrics)Soda Ash 1% for all fabric typesDetergent 1% for all fabric types

Method

Add all to water (1:20 ). Soak fabric and bring to boil. Agitate and work the fabric throughly. Maintain temperature for 2hrs. Rinse out and take to next process.

BleachingIngredients

Hydrogen Peroxide (164 vol) 3 ml/lt (fine fabrics) upto 6 ml/lt (thick fabrics)Stabilizer HP 2 gm/lt upto 4 gm/lt

Method

Bring water (1:20) to 85c add Stabiliser HP then add Hydrogen Peroxide and soak for ! hr. Rinse out and take to next process.

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Dyeing

TYPES OF DYE CHEMICALS (AZO FREE)

Direct dyes -non fast dyes that are inexpensive and easy to use Vat dyes- very fast dyes that are expensive are moderately easy to use ( good shelf life). Reactive dyes- relatively good fastness qualities and are moderately easy to use (poor

shelf life)

Reactive dyesThere are two classes of reactive dyes that are available in the industry 1. Remazol Dyes / Corazol dyes (manufactored by Colortex company)2. Procion dyes (manufactured by Atul) / Coractive dyes (manufactored by Colortex company)

Reactive dyes have fair to good fastness to rubbing ( both wet and dry) as well as washing. However they exhibit poor light fastness. It is always recommended to dry reactive dyed fabrics and products in shade.

Reactive dyes have a poor shelf life. as these dyes are water soluble, they degrade when in contact with any moisture, even humid air. they need to be stored in airtight containers and used fast.

Reactive dyed fabrics will bleach out in Chlorine so they are not recommended for products had will come in contact with chlorine like swimwear, medical scrubs etc.

Reactive dyes will also bleach out 80c with Caustic and Hydros.

There are three types of reactive dyes

1. Cold reactive - These dyes have an M in their name and can be dyed at 30c. ME at 60c.2. Hot reactive - These dyes have an H in their name and can be dyed at 60c to 90c. HE at

90c- 95c.3. Remazol dyes need to be started at 30c and then the temperature needs to be increased to

60c.

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Procion dyesSHADE DIFFERENTIATION- DYE

0.5 % light shades 0.6 % to 1.9 % medium intensity shade 2 % and above Dark shade.

SALT ( TO INCREASE DYE ABSORBENCY )

30 gm/lt. for light shades 40 gm/lt. for medium shades 50 gm/lt. for dark shades

SODA ASH ( ALKALI ADDED AT DYEING )

5gm/lt for all shade intensities

DYEING METHODOLOGY

Pre soak fabric. Make a dye solution with a little water and required dye stuff. Then add the remaining water which has been calculated at 20 litres of water to 1 kg of fabric that is water at 1:20.

Add the pre-soaked and squeezed out fabric to the dye bath. After five minutes lift up the fabric and add salt. Put the fabric back into the bath. Soak and work

the fabric for 30 minutes at recommended temperature ( depending on whether the dye is HE / H/ ME/M)

lift up the fabric and add Soda ash. Maintain at recommended temperature for another 30 minutes.

Remove fabric and wash well with detergent at 2gm/lt. for 10 minutes at 70c - 80c.

Remazol dyesSHADE DIFFERENTIATION- DYE

0.5 % light shades 0.6 % to 1.9 % medium intensity shade 2 % and above Dark shade.

SALT ( TO INCREASE DYE ABSORBENCY )

40 gm/lt. for light shades 50 gm/lt. for medium shades 60 gm/lt. for dark shades

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SODA ASH ( ALKALI ADDED AT DYEING )

5gm/lt for all shade intensities

CAUSTIC SODA ( ALKALI USED ONLY WITH REMAZOL DYES )

1 gm/lt. for light shades 1.5 gm/lt. for medium shades 2 gm/lt. for dark shades

DYEING METHODOLOGY

IN COLD PROCESS AT 30C

Pre soak fabric. Make a dye solution with a little water and required dye stuff. Then add the remaining water which has been calculated at 20 litres of water to 1 kg of fabric that is water at 1:20.

Add the pre-soaked and squeezed out fabric to the dye bath.Soak and agitate well. After 10 minutes lift up the fabric and add salt. Put the fabric back into the bath. Soak and work

the fabric for 30 minutes. lift up the fabric and add Soda ash and Caustic soda . Soak and agitate well for another 2

hours. Remove fabric and wash well with detergent at 2gm/lt. for 10 minutes at 70c - 80c.

IN HOT PROCESS AT 60C

Pre soak fabric. Make a dye solution with a little water and required dye stuff. Then add the remaining water at 60c (1:20).

Add the pre-soaked and squeezed out fabric to the dye bath.Soak and agitate well. After 10 minutes lift up the fabric and add salt. Put the fabric back into the bath. Soak and work

the fabric for 30 minutes. lift up the fabric and add Soda ash and Caustic soda . Soak and agitate well for another 1

hours. Remove fabric and wash well with detergent at 2gm/lt. for 10 minutes at 70c - 80c.

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Valedictory Function

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Mrs Bhavani Vel over seeing the valedictory session with the Tying artisans and giving positive feedback on their efforts.

Many participants shared their experiences and the consistent performers were felicitated.

Product Pictures

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Annexurelist of beneficiaries

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S.No Name Address

1 G. Murugan 2/82, Kottaya Patti, Kalikkam patti (po) N.panjam patti (vai) Dindigul (district) 624302.

2 M. Murugesan 1198, 4Y, Ambathurai, Melakottai, Dindigul district.

3 P. Amalorpavam 6/97, Madathu Antoniyar Street, N.Panjampatty, Dindigul District 624301

4 R. Devika 2471, Rural College W2, Keela Kottai, Gandhi Gram (Post), Dindigul 624312.

5 A. Karthikeyan 2/145, South Street, Ambathurai, Ambathurai (Post), Melakotai, Dindigul 624312.

6 L. Kannammal 2501, Rural College W2, Keela Kottai, Gandhi Gram (Post), Dindigul 624314.

7 K. Jaya Praba 9/369, Kullathu karar vedu, Kulanthai Yeshu Nagar, A.Vellode Dindigul 624307.

8 M. Pramila Rani W/O P. Arul Johnpaul Alex, Kovil Street, kamalapuram, Mellur (Post), Kodai road (via) Dindigul 624206.

9 A. Philominal W/O Arulanatham, Kamalapuram, South Street, D.No 7/245, Mettur (Post), Nilakottai (Taluka), Dindigul 624206.

10 S. Ponnu Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Chettiapatti (Post), Dindigul 624312.

11 V. Selva Murugan 67, Valayapatti Chettiapatti (Post), Gandhi Gram, Dindigul 624312.

12 T. Mary Ajitha W/O. Adam Backiaya Nathan, Kamalapuram, Mettur (Post), Nilakottai (Taluka) Dindigul 624312.

13 A. Johnsi Clement W/O. A. Jax Rajan, 7/91, Kamalapuram Pirivu, Mettur (Post), Dindigul 624312.

14 A. Helen Judith W/O. Arul. Clement Inba Raj, North Street, Kamalapuram , Melur (Post), Kodai Road , Dindigul 624206.

15 P. Mary Nisha W/O Paneer Selvam, South Street, D.No 7/315, Kamalapuram, Mettur (Post) Nilakottai (T.K) Dindigul 624206.

16 A. Arul Josephine VeniciaW/O S. Lourdu Samy, Kovil Street, Kamalapuram, Mettur (Post), Kodai Road (Via), Dindigul 624206.

17 S. Bhavani Durga W/O T.Selva kumar, Chettiapatti (Post) Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Dindigul 624206.

18 J. Priya Anthoniyar Street, Panchampatti.

19 J. Prince MadhumathiSaverior Street, Panchampatti 624303.

20 R. Vijina Poondi Madha Street, Panchampatti.

21 J. Rani Rayappar Chinnappar Street, Panchampatti

22 A. Femila Mary Poondi Madha Kovil Street, Panchampatti.

23 A. Amali Ruth Mary 2/122, Anthoniyar Street, Panchampatti.

24 J. Parkavi Anthoniyar Street, Panchampatti.

25 R. Jandi Ark Mercy 2/115, Anthoniyar Street, Panchampatti.

26 J. Thavamani Anthoniyar Street, Panchampatti.

27 V. Vimala Anthoniyar Street, Panchampatti.

28 Thamizh Rani Koil Street, Kamalapuram, Mettur Post, Dindugal Dist.

29 Jesintha Margaret AshaKoil Street, Kamalapuram, Mettur Post, Dindugal Dist

40 P Manikandan Mariyammam Koil Street, Ambathunai Post, Melakkottai, Dindugal Dist. 624 302