Peacocks of Inspiration

Last summer I ventured to the village in India where our hand block printing is done. I flew into the big city of Hyderabad and then took a 9 hour train ride to a very small fishing town. The owners of the block printing workshop picked me up at the train station and drove me another 20 minutes to their village.

I spent a week at the village enjoying the simplicities of life, understanding the full process of block printing with natural dyes and even learning how to block print. Of course, in one week I did not develop the technique and skill level of the master block printers who pride themselves at their 15- 30 years of experience. These printers have an accurate and fast hand with almost no mistakes. 

One day Nagendra, the workshop owner, showed me this beautiful peacock block that is about 45 years old and 14" X 13" big.  My immediate thought was that I have to have this print on a bag- a simple canvas tote so the beauty of this block can stand out in all its glory. And thus I began to design a small collection of hand block printed totes. Below is the first collection with more to come in the near future.