A cluster is defined as a geographic concentration (a city/town/few adjacent villages and their adjoining areas)of units producing near similar products and facing common opportunities and threats. An artisan cluster is defined as geographically concentrated (mostly in villages/townships) household units producing handicraft/handloom products. In a typical cluster, such producers often belong to a traditional community, producing the long-established products for generations. Indeed, many artisan clusters are centuries old Artisan.

About Alipurduar Cluster:-

Alipurduar  Cluster falls under West Bengal State in Kolkata  district.

The Alipurduar cluster is able to form 229 plus Artisans & 12 SHGs supporting the strong work force. The mobilization gains momentum day by day.

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Hand Printed:-

The Resist Process called Dabu is used here involves using wax or gum clay mixed with resin. With the help of brush or block or by hand this is applied to the portions of the cloth. The color is then applied to it. The wax is then washed off in hot or flowing water and the applied colour moves into this area to give a diffused effect. This process is some what similar to the batik procees. Now Block printing is done on the portion of the cloth where the original colour is retained. The fabric is highlighted by printing Specific outlines and patterns against the contrast colour. Due to the use of wax the designs get a broken appearance like batik due to the leakage of colour once the resist is washed off. The small Chaubundi print in indigo is famous in Birbhum.

Chanderi Stoles and Dupattas, Mangalgiri Salwar Suits and Sarees, Maheshwari Salwar Suits and Sarees, Tussar Salwar Suits and Sarees, Georgette Sarees, Chiffon Sarees, Printed fabrics in Khadi cotton and Khadi Silk, Printed Cottons in Voile and Sheeting.

Jamdanis are mostly woven in lightly dyed backgrounds with designs in white, maroon, black, green, gold, silver and in muga silk of a golden colour. There is a key difference in the weaving technique of extra weft designing between jamdanis and tangails; the embroidery thread in jamdani is inserted after every ground pick whereas in tangails the embroidery thread is inserted after two ground picks. The main characteristic of tangails is the extra weft butis, tiny motifs repeated all over the ground. Traditionally jamdanis are woven in white with designs in bleached white. Traditional jamdani saris with geometrical designs and cotton tang ails are very popular and continue to be woven by weavers originally from West Bengal. Being light they are excellent for everyday wear in a tropical country like India.

Raw Materials Used :-

Any filament, fibre, or that can be made into fabric or cloth, and the resulting material itself. The word originally referred only to woven fabrics but now includes knitted, bonded, felted, and tufted fabrics as well. The basic raw materials used in textile production are fibres, either obtained from natural sources (e.g.,wool) or produced from chemical substances (e.g., and polyester. Textiles are classified according to their component fibers into silk, wool, linen, cotton, such synthetic fibers as rayon, nylon, and polyesters, and some inorganic fibers, such as cloth of gold, glass fiber, and asbestos cloth.

Process:-

Textile hand printing is the process of applying colour to fabric in definite patterns or designs. In properly printed fabrics the colour is bonded with the, so as to resistwashing andfriction. Textile printing is related to dyeing but, whereas in dyeing proper the whole fabric is uniformly covered with one colour, in printing one or more colours are applied to it in certain parts only, and in sharply defined patterns.In printing, wooden blocks, stencils, engraved plates, rollers, or silkscreens are used to place colours on the fabric. Colourants used in printing contain dyes thickened to prevent the colour from spreading by capillary attraction beyond the limits of the pattern or design.

Traditional textile printing techniques may be broadly categorised into four styles:

Resist and discharge techniques were particularly fashionable in the 19th century, as were combination techniques in which indigo resist was used to create blue backgrounds prior to block-printing of other colours.[1] Most modern industrialised printing uses direct printing techniques.

1. Creation of the screens-the screens are made by tightly stretching a finely women Dacron mesh fabric over a stainless steel frame. The Dacron is coated with a light sensitive emulsion, this is laid on top of a drawing, created from opaque black ink, which is then exposed to light to produce a "negative'image. The result is a screen, that when covered with ink, will only allow ink to penetrate according to the drawing.
2. Mixing and application of the ink.
3. Pinning of the fabric to the printing table.
4. Printing of the fabri -the screen is laid over the substrate material and ink is squeegied across the screen so that the ink permeates.
5. Drying of the fabric

Techniques:-

This technique the intended pattern along with the individual color is formed by projecting small drops of ink which are special dye liquors in predetermined micro arrays onto the surface of the substrate. This is earliest form of printing used for the purpose of increasing the decorative value of textiles. This is the traditional technique of tie and dye. a spray gun is used to force the color through a screen and electro coating is used to apply a patterned pile. This technique involves tying up of both wrap and weft threads where original color needs to be retained and then dyed.

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How to reach:-

By Air:-

The airport in Kolkata is situated at Dumdum, around 17 km northeast of the city center. Most of the domestic airlines have direct services to and from Kolkata to other important cities of India such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Patna, Varanasi, Lucknow, etc. Kolkata provides direct flights to most of the countries in the Southeast Asia.

By Road:-

Kolkata is connected with most of the Indian cities by road. The Esplanade Terminus in the heart of the city is the main bus terminus. A new development is the starting of the Dhaka-Kolkata bus service. The buses are colorful, air-conditioned and comfortable.

By Train:-

The city has two major railway stations-one at Howrah and the other one at Sealdah. Trains from the other parts of the country connect Kolkata. Super-fast trains such as Rajdhani Express and Shatabdi Express connect the city to Delhi and nearby cities such as Bokaro and Rourkela. Coromandel Express and Gitanjali Express connect Kolkata to Chennai and Mumbai respectively.