KANTHA STITCH

Similarly, Kantha Stitching is an age-old traditional craft which has its origin in rural Bengal where it has developed over the decades as a Cottage Industry. The possibilities of Value addition in seamed and seamless apparel via utilization of Kantha Stitch is very high. The rich and exquisite hand embroidery Kantha work has a high appreciation in the international market which needs to be further harnessed for Value additions. The raw materials and tools used for this crafts are cloth, thread, beads, tracing paper, stitching machine, needle, scissors, press iron etc.

BATIK

Batik is an ancient art. The wax process was brought to India by late Rathindranath Tagore. Son of the famous poet Rabindranath Tagore. The word batik actually means ‘wax writing ‘. It is a way of decorating fabric by covering a part of it with a coat of wax and then dyeing the fabric. The waxed areas keep their original color and when the wax is removed the contrast between the dyed and undyed areas makes the pattern. The crackle effect of batik is the most fascinating part which makes it unique. This results when the cooled wax is cracked to allow the dye to penetrate in the final dye bath.

LEATHER

Leather handicraft is the largest type of crafts being done in the Birbhum District. The uniqueness of the crafts done in this area is the Etching, Embossing and batik styling that is synonymous with Shantiniketan. The beauty of this product is the utilization of vegetable tanned leather, which has the properties of accepting any type of pressure on its surface, which enables the creation of beautiful designs via embossing and etching. The resist treatment by using natural extracts creates the batik effect. Shantiniketan style leather products are well known in the domestic and Export markets as “SHANTI PRODUCTS” (a brand which can be pursued further internationally for positioning leather handicrafts of this region). In spite of having a large resource of Designs for Embossing, Etching and batik treatments the area of concern for these products is the continuous usage of similar design and products with less innovation. The leatherwork requires knife, skiving knife, awl, pointer, setsquares, embossing wheel and carriage, combination punch, cobbler’s hammer, edge creaser, thronging chisel, pliers etc as the tools.

TUSSAR SILK

The concept of silk weaving originated many years ago in China. Soon the art traveled to India and became an integral part of the woven designs created in many form of garments, especially saris. During 18th centuries silk became very popular in Europe especially in Britain. In India the silk woven designs acquired their varieties through migration of the craft in various regions, where they evolved and acquired their regional characteristics. It is a thriving art and production of the silk fabrics is very high which requires a large quantity of silk yarns, which is consumed by the industry.
Silk weaving has also come down from ancient times in Bengal. Kausheya Vastra, ‘wild-silk’ weaving in Bengal is mentioned in the Arthashastra, a treaties in economics by Kautilya, written around 300 B.C. the silk weavers of Bankura, Purulia and Birbhum still weave wild silk, Tussar, for many uses. The cocoons almost the size of small eggs, are found attached to various forest trees in the semi-arid zones of these districts. The silk filament yarn is reeled from the silk cocoons. The silk, which is famous for its luster, smoothness, feel is then converted to beautiful designed fabrics.