Ajrakh Matka Natural Dye Peace Silk Wrap | iron II
An exquisite ajrakh printed wrap in hand spun & woven mulberry peace silk - known as matka silk in India. This cloth is delciously soft & has an exceptional drape. Personal admission: these are my favourite of all our scarves - I wear almost no other year round!
- Measures 36" by 90" with small variations
- Hand block printed in the ancient technqiue of ajrakh - a complex 15-stage process using natural vegetable & mineral mordants, dyes & resists to achieve rich, geometric patterns, crafted by the Khatri community in Ajrakhpur, whose ancestors have been perfecting the process for generations
- Made exclusively from peace, or non-violent, silk - no silk worm is harmed in the making of this silk
- Hand spun and woven in beautiful mulberry silk with an exceptional hand feel and drape
- All orders come lovingly packed in upcycled silk bags
Conventional silk is produced by boiling silk worms alive in their cocoons, killing some 6,000 worms to produce 1 kg of silk. Peace silk, also known as ahimsa or non-violent silk, is a sustainable & ethical approach to silk production which does not involve harming or killing the silk worm.
Once the moths have hatched the cocoon, the cocoons are collected by silk farmers, then spun & woven by hand. A cottage industry, the production of peace silk supports a wide & varied eco-system of women & men farmers, spinners, weavers, printers & dyers.
Silk spun & woven in this way retains properties lost during conventional methods of silk production. As a spun silk, peace silk is less lustrous than conventional silk, but is incredibly soft and has a rich, slubbed texture & an incredible drape. Because of the air pockets retained in the yarn, it retains warmth in winter & breathes in the heat so is comfortable to wear year round.
Ajrakh is an ancient form of hand block mordant printing & resist dyeing using exclusively natural dyes, like indigo & madder, and natural mordants. The process is extremely laborious & complex, and practiced by master artisans only in Western India & Eastern Pakistan.
Following the design of the pattern, wooden blocks are carved by hand. The cloth is then hand printed through a series of around 15 steps, dictated by the specific chemical reactions of each individual natural dye, resist & mordant.
Any variations or irregularities are to be celebrated. They are part of the design & inherent to the handcrafted production process, making this item beautifully unique.
- Fabric: 100% silk - mulberry silk
- Handfeel: Mid weight silk, ultra soft & very slightly slubbed with an incredible drape
- Care:
- Natural colours are living colours and change over time. Darker colours may bleed & rub at first.
- Gentle hand wash separately in cold water using pH neutral detergent. Do not use conditioner.
- Do not soak. Colours may bleed, especially in in the beginning.
- Gentle steam iron. Drip dry flat in the shade. Store in the dark.
- Origin: Assam, India
