Pipali work-Applique art of Odisha

Applique work is one of the oldest craft done using fabric. There are many forms of applique work practiced in India, among those,Pipali work of Odisha is an ancient one. Odisha is famous for some unique art like, Patachitra  , also famous for some fabric art like making of hand woven Ikkat and Pipli work.

Pipli work : Colorful applique 

Pipli work is colorful.Almost all colors are used in this. Here you can see the use of different colored clothes in Pipli work:

 Origin of Pipli applique art: 

This art of applique dates back to 10th century AD. The Pipli is a village near Bhubaneshwar (the capital of Odisha). This place is the origin of Pipli applique art. This handicraft is related to the famous Jaganatha Yathra of Puri. History says that this colorful applique work was done to decorate  Jagannatha Ratha and temple during rituals.

Image courtesy -Google images:Pipli -work fabric covering Jaganath Ratha

After independence , this art  of applique work started declining, because of the loss of royal patronage.  But now it is again in demand , as the artists have started making many household and decorative items like bedsheets,purses, , wall hangings, pillow covers, lampshades and tablecloth using Pipli art.

Patterns and Motifs used in Pipli work:

In making pipli applique work, the traditional colors Red, Yellow , Green and Black are used. But nowadays, to accommodate current users' requirement , other colors are also used. Traditionally the motifs used are flowers, birds, elephant, vine designs ,geometric patterns etc. This is embellished with mirror work. We can find many variations in this applique art. Recently I visited an exhibition. Here are some variations in Pipli art:

Wall hanging with motifs of human beings

Purse with a small house and girl

Wall hanging with tree design. The artist told me its auspicious and lucky to keep this :)

i-Pad cover with house motif

And here is the artist selling his products:

Artist with his products

Coming up with some more posts on different handicrafts and some of my works too.

Until then,  

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Ikkat - textile of Orissa

I have already written about Gombe habba. I Will write about the same in the next posts too. Recently visited  arts and crafts exhibitions conducted at many places in city. I was busy in visiting these exhibitions, got opportunity to view many forms of arts and crafts . Sure, I will share about all the forms of arts and crafts in the coming posts.  In one of such exhibitions  came across Orissa Sarees( normally called as Odisha Sarees).

Here are those colorful sarees:

Aren't these beautiful?! The geometrical designs on bright colors give special appearance and elegance to the cloth. The geometrical shapes on the cloth is made by special dyeing and weaving mechanism called ikat.

Ikat is a dyeing mechanism making geometrical pattern on cloths. You can read more about ikat here.
This art of dyeing is basically from Indonesia, but now its been woven in India too. This is majorly practiced in Orissa and also in Pochmpally of Andhra Pradesh. The tying of threads before dyeing should be very precise to get the geometrical shape.
The ikat sarees made in  Sambalpuri of Orissa sarees are called Sambalpuri sarees. These are characterized by the special motifs like lotus, creeper, elephant , lion , peacock etc.
Here you can see some of the beautiful motifs:

 

This saree has brown background with Lotus and Peacock motifs. 

I always love to have different  kinds of sarees in my collection of sarees. I normally buy the different kinds of sarees when I visit the places. Also, when I visit some exhibitions.But nowadays we can buy online too.

Hope this will be helpful to the readers who are interested to collect different artifacts.

In next posts share about the different themes used in Gombe habba I visited.

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Patachitra- Pride of Orissa

Already I have written about Patachitra in my earlier post. In this post sharing about the process of making patachitra and the designs and motifs used in Patachitra.
The Patachitra are made on Palm leaf strips joined with stitches.
Here you can see the one I have,

The theme in this Patachitra is Shri Krishna and Dashavatara pictures. The pictures are engraved on the palm leaf.
Here you can see the engraved picture, closely.

 

The middle picture is of Krishna and Radha, the surrounding motifs are of Dashavatara( 10 reincarnation  of Shri Vishnu) . Here are the beautiful motifs:

The borders are normally have geometrical motifs or floral designs.

Floral borders:

Geometrical border:

The Patachitra is also done on clothes. Before making the painting the cloth is bonded with gum made of tamarind powder to hold the paint properly.After applying the tamarind paste the cloth is dried in sun. Once dried rubbed on both the sides with stone first and then with smooth pebble. Then the design is painted on the cloth with natural dyes.
Here is a colorful Patachitra.

Each Patachitra is painted so intricately that, every painting shows the effort of the artist. Its not only just a decorative painting, Patachtra has a role in some rituals performed in temple of Puri.
I'm really happy to share about this unique art which is part of diversity of India.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana