Ratlam Hand Block Craft
Malwa block printing and the sev-and-sweet town's textile and lac-bangle trades.
Ratlam, a trading and railway town on the Malwa plateau of Madhya Pradesh, has a hand block-printing tradition producing cotton sarees, dupattas, yardage and furnishing in the Malwa vocabulary of small florals, buti sprigs, jaal creepers and geometric borders, in indigo, black and madder tones and modern pigment colours. The town is also known for its lac (lakh) bangles — brightly coloured, stone-set bangles formed from softened lac — and, more famously still, for its namkeen (savoury snacks) and sweets.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh
Also Known As
Ratlam block print, Malwa chhapa, Ratlami lakh ki chudi
Craft Type
Hand block-printed textiles and allied lac-bangle craft
Practising Community
Chhipa block-printer families and Lakhera (lac-worker) families of Ratlam
Materials
Cotton cloth, carved wooden blocks, and natural dyes (indigo, alizarin, iron) and pigment colours for printing; lac (shellac) coloured with pigment, mirrors, cut-glass stones and beads for the bangles.
Known For
Block-printed cotton in Malwa florals and geometrics, and Ratlam's lac (lakh) bangles
Where It's Made
Ratlam city and surrounding towns in the Malwa plateau, Madhya Pradesh; related to Bagh, Bagru and Bhairavgarh printing
Time to Create
Three to seven days per printed length; hours per set of lac bangles
GI Status
Not GI-registered; nearby Bagh Prints of the same state are registered
Process Steps
Preparing the cloth
Cotton is washed and treated so it takes dye or pigment evenly.
Carving the blocks
Outline and filler blocks for the small Malwa designs are cut from seasoned hardwood.
Printing
Colours or mordants are printed block by block, each impression aligned by the block's pins.
Dyeing and washing
Mordant-printed cloth is dyed and washed to develop colour; indigo grounds are vat-dyed separately.
Softening the lac
For bangles, coloured lac is warmed over a coal flame until pliable and worked into a rod.
Forming the bangle
The lac rod is shaped around a mandrel into a ring and sized to the wearer.
Setting stones and mirrors
Mirrors, cut-glass stones and beads are pressed into the still-warm lac in patterns around the bangle.
Technique Glossary
Chhipa
The hereditary block-printing community of central and western India.
Mordant
A metallic salt printed so a dye later fixes permanently only where it was applied.
Jaal
An all-over trellis or creeper pattern in block printing.
Lakh (lac)
A thermoplastic resin from the lac insect, softened by heat to form bangles.
Lakhera
The community of lac-workers who make the bangles.
Mandrel
The tapered rod around which a lac bangle is formed and sized.
Malwa palette
The characteristic indigo, black and madder on cream of the plateau's natural-dye printing.
A Craft Through Time
Pre-modern
Malwa printing and lac work
Chhipa printers and Lakhera bangle-makers supply the towns and villages of the Malwa plateau.
19th century
A railway town
Ratlam grows as a trading and railway junction, widening the market for its crafts and its food.
20th century
Competition
Screen printing and glass and plastic bangles press the hand printers and lac-workers.
Late 20th century
Craft persistence
Both crafts continue as small trades alongside the town's dominant food industry.
21st century
Craft promotion
State schemes promote Malwa block printing, and Ratlam printers supply designers and boutiques.
Present
Small living crafts
Block printing and lac-bangle making continue in Ratlam, a footnote to a town known for its snacks.
Did You Know?
Ratlam is far more famous across India for its sev — a fine gram-flour savoury — than for its block prints, but the town's Chhipa printers work in the same Malwa tradition that produced the celebrated Bagh print.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.