Felting today. We checked out an opening of a show at Khmer, at a gallery in the country, an NGO,   Non-Government Organization, in the area. It was a fancy affair with all the women in finest, artists speaking and networking, a grand opening of  exhibitions of local Kutchi artwork. It was attended by the ” the Tax Collector”  He had armed guards surrounding him. The whole party started late waiting for this person.

This area in Gujarat is called Kutch and it is where all the crafts come from. We ate lunch there.

We got a felting demo which took hours.  We sat around today, waiting for a long time. Another collective  called Shurjan was our next stop. We didn’t see anything but their store. They have handicrafts from all over and have a different type of embroidery on their things.

Health Report: My hearing has returned and today I thought I was going to have a Pine Mountain stomach experience but it cleared up. Everybody in the group is well.

On the way back to the hotel,  there was a stop at the local market. Bonnie and I were so tired that we got our bus and went back to the hotel, leaving Marion and Jalpa to shop for jewelry.

Back at the room for a chilled glass of the contraband beverage and a bit of sewing. We are making plans for shipping our purchases back tomorrow.  Chala for now.  (Ciao in Italian)

p.s. The  so called coffee here is strictly Nescafé. I am loving the chai in the afternoons tho.

Or Rupees, as the case may be. I am carrying around my iPhone to act as a quick conversion tool for me and Bonnie when shopping. I have my iPad for photos for easy access for the blog. Not as convenient as a camera but it takes pretty good photos.

We we arrived at Dr. Khatri’s family compound to see the block printing. The family has been doing this craft for many generations. Three gens live in the compound now. The  master, Dr. Khatri, (an honorary degree given to him in Britain for keeping the craft going. ) gave us the rundown on his history of his business and the dyes. The blocks printing is all by hand, using a ll natural dyes and indigo as well. They gather the dyes and process them, print the fabric and wash and dry it there in long lengths that they lay out on the ground. His fabric was beautiful intricate printing. Beautiful.

After Dr.Khatris place, we went to another fabric printer in the same village to see what he had He was a nice man with lots of  stuff.

Onward to the weaving and indigo demonstration In a touristy town called Bhujodi.  These places were ones I went to on my last trip.The weather has been mild and really nice. The drives to these places has been as good as it could be what with all the traffic and horns honking at our big bus. It seats 12 and there are only four of us. We have lots of room.

I hope to get caught up with the blogs tonight. As you can guess I do not have much spare time. I only have internet in the lobby of the hotel. Bye for now.

Today, more little villages in the country. It seems like we are going on dirt roads and all of a sudden a small village pops up. First we went to the town of Nirona and saw the Rogan painters. Theirs intone on fabric is done with pigment and thick boiled castor oil. Otis so fine it looks like fine embroidery. Apparently the president of India brought one of these paintings to Obama as a gift. I wonder where he has it in the White House.  Same village, down a lane to the copper bell people. These crafts people have all passed their crafts down through the generations. We got a demo of how they make the bells by hand.  On to another small village to see the hand turned lacquer work.  It was so interesting how they create the patterns on the item  turned with a rope and a stick and the naturally made lacquer. Everything is made with what materials they have locally. Some girls and women gathered up behind us with beads and dolls. I was sniffing around for quilts. They brought one out and it was so inexpensive that I felt guilty buying it. Can’t wait to show all these things to students and friends. Then onto  Muslim village where they did the most incredible tie and dye, dyeing.  Each piece was museum quality, all thrown out in a pile to see (and buy of course).  Back home to the hotel to freshen up and have dinner the outta the Bhuj evening market to look at more quilts at a shop. I am getting shopping fatigue, and just plain fatigue keeping up the pace. I’ll rest whenI get home. 

Today we went downstairs and started the batik workshop with the artist, Mukesh, who gave us the rundown on his workshop, then sat us down with the girls who work painting the wax on the fabric and we made a big scarf size batik. The girls work o sand tab Mukesh dyed it for us and we got it later. Meanwhile, he had quite a nice shop for buying the batik.  We hiad lunch and drive to the bandhani, or tie dye. The all Muslim group or family work the tying and dyeing. We got deems here and did our own examples of Shibori, a stitched sample and a tied example. They dyed them for us and by the time we finished looking and shopping there, our stuff was dry. Both of these workshops were fun, We three ladies on the tour and our leader, Jalpa, are getting along fine. The driver is really good as many streets accorded and narrow and getting our van through needed some trick and fancy driving. We are keeping up a good pace every day.

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Today is a travel day to Bhuj eventually. We are staying in Narona at the Sun hotel where the artist has his studio. .Along the way we saw Ribari gypsies with their camels and goats. An Indian rest stop, if you can imagine, with water buffalo n the road. That is why it took 8hours to go 215 miles. We went to a nearby beach filled with camel rides, families and food.  We worked on our applique project in the evening. Tomorrow the workshops of batik and tie dye.