The method of tie and dye is locally known as Chungidi and Madurai is the key place in Tamilnadu. The colours used are red, Purple, blue and black. The specialty here is the kolam or rangoli patterns. The kolams are all geometric in nature and the borders of the sari are in contrasting colours.
Here, the yarn is first tied in portions, and each section is dyed in a different color according to the design. When woven, the designs emerge, and the special feature is that the design is prominent on both sides of the fabric. This is a very complicated process and it is rather amazing to find that the traditional weavers do not use any graphic designs on paper. The common motifs are borrowed from nature. Flowers, creepers, birds, animals are abundantly woven in myriad colors, all lending a distinct feature to the nine yards of woven wonder.
Traditionally, craftsman created Baandhas with images of flora and fauna or with geometrical patterns. Most recently, new types of Baandha depicting portrait, landscape and flower pods are in vogue.
Chunari is a special technique of fabric dyeing practiced in Rajasthan. It involves a combination of the tie-and-dye process and direct printing.
The famous Black Chunari (tie dyed) with the red borders is mainly used at the time of Diwali (festival of lights).
Khavda is one of the last villages to continue the printing method known as 'ajrakh'. Cloth is dyed with natural pigments in a lengthy process similar to batik, but instead of wax, a mixture of lime and gum is used to resist the dye in certain parts of the cloth when new colours are added.
Bandhani or Bandhej of Gujarat is one of the best tie and dye fabrics in India. These are produced on the mulmul (muslin) cloth, often combined with gold checks and motif work in the jamdani style. In this technique, a portion of the fabric is tied into tiny knots, following a pattern. Then, the fabric is dipped into a base color, followed by retying and dyeing. This is done several times till the final color scheme and pattern is achieved. Eventually, the complexity of the process and the quality of the fabric decides the price of a Bandhani piece.
Dhamadka is the art of printing fabrics with wooden blocks. This is a major foreign exchange earner of the region, along with the modern screen printing art. The technique uses wooden blocks of around 1 ½ " to 3" thickness. The design to be printed on the fabric is first pin pricked on the wooden surface and later chiseled. After this, the blocks are dipped in different colors and stamped across the fabric. This leaves an imprint of the design of the block on the fabric. After printing, the fabric is fixed in river Gondali and spread to dry.