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 Belhar Kala Cluster:-

Belhar Kala Cluster falls under Uttar Pradesh State in Sant Kabir Nagar district.

The Belhar Kala cluster is able to form 105 plus Artisans & 15 SHGs supporting the strong work force.The mobilisation gains momentum day by day.

 

Textile Hand Printed:-

 

The tying of cloth with thread and then dying it is the simplest and perhaps the oldest form of creating patterns on a plain piece of cloth. It is also the earliest forms of decorated textiles. This form of patterning requires a mastery over dyeing.

 

The fabric is washed. Often it is dipped in a mordant so that it can absorb the dye. The cloth is folded, first lengthwise, than widthwise into four folds. The patterns on the body are then indicated all over the surface with the use of blocks dipped in geru, a red mud color. The cloth is then pinched with the left hand, one knot follows another, using the same thread. After the section, which are to be retained in the background color had been tied, the dying is repeated and the process of tying is carried out. The fabric is gradually dyed to the final dark color, which is either a brilliant red, purple, dark green a deep ultramarine blue or black. Its contrasting color border is created then the body of the sari is tied with thick threads and then covered with a plastic sheet, which is then tied firmly with thick threads. The border is then dipped in another shade. This is the traditional technique for tying and dyeing, which is followed, in all the important centers of Uttar Pradesh.

 

 

Raw materials:-

Textiles can be made from a variety of materials. They are classified on the basis of their component fibers into silk, wool, linen, cotton, synthetic fibers like rayon, nylon and polyesters and some inorganic fibers such as cloth of gold, glass fiber and asbestos cloth. They are also classified as to their structure or weave, according to the manner in which warp and weft cross each other in the loom.

 

 

Process:-

Dyeing is the process of changing the color of a yarn or cloth by treatment with a dye. Dyeing is used by humans to decorate fabrics. The primary source of dye is nature, with the dyestuff being extracted from animals or plants.

 

In the last two centuries, humans have produced artificial dyes to achieve specific colors, and to render the dyes fast, so that they do not run when the material is washed. Dyes are applied to material by direct application, or by immersing the yarn or cloth in the liquid dye or a solution of the dye. In order to remove natural or unwanted color from the material, the opposite process of bleaching is carried out.

 

Indian dyers had mastered the art of dyeing with fast colors from ancient times. They were considered magicians by travelers, who saw them putting a white cloth into a pale liquid of indigo dye and when the cloth appeared from the dye bath it was still white. It was only when it came into contact with oxygen and it became blue. Multiple immersions and exposure to the air enriched the color. People felt this was a magical makeover. Printed fabrics were in regular use throughout North India, as well as for home use. They also became essential export items.

 

Carding is the processing of brushing raw or washed fibers to prepare them as textiles. A large variety of fibers can be carded, anything from dog hair, to llama, to soy silk (a fiber made from soy beans). Cotton, wool and bast are probably the most common fibers to be carded. Not all fibers are carded. Flax, for example, is threshed, not carded.

 

It is a preliminary process in manufacturing spun yarn in which the fibers are separated, distributed, equalized and formed into a web. The web can be very thin or thick. The process of carding removes some impurities and a certain amount of short or broken fibers is also removed.

 

Carding is the process by which fibers are opened, cleaned, and straightened in preparation for spinning. The fingers were first used, then a tool of wood or bone shaped like a hand came into use, then two flat pieces of wood (cards) covered with skin set with thorns or teeth replaced the former two. Primitive cards, rubber-covered and toothed with bent wires, are still employed by Navajo women. Modern carding dates from the use of revolving cylinders patented in 1748 by Lewis Paul. A mechanical apron feed was devised in 1772, and Richard Arkwright added a funnel that contracted the carded fiber into a continuous sliver.

 

Carding is the processing of brushing raw or washed fibers to prepare them as textiles. It is used for cotton, wool and bast fibers. Hand carders are like dog brushes and are used two at a time, brushing the wool between the two until all the fibers in a bunch are going in the same direction. Machine carding is done with brushes on a drum. Separated fibers are fed into the machine, picked up and brushed onto either so called flats (cotton) or several more drums (wool), and then removed. This product can be used for spinning after some more treatment.

 

Carding can also be used to create mixes of different fibers, or different colors. Some hand-spinners have a small drum carder at home especially for the purpose of mixing together the different colored fiber that they buy already carded. Some drum carders even come with directions on how to best card two colors at once.

Techniques:-

Carding : Carding is the process by which fibers are opened, cleaned, and straightened in preparation for spinning.

Bleaching : In this process, the natural or original color of the textile is removed by chemicals or exposure to sunlight.

Dyeing : This process involves adding color to textiles. A vast range of dyes, natural and synthetic are available, some of which require mordents.

Embroidery : In this process, threads are added to the surface of a finished textile for ornamentation.

Starching : In this process a preparation of a substance called starch is used to stiffen fabrics and to make paper.

Waterproofing and other finishings.

 

How to reach:-

By Air:-

Air Force Station is 8 km from the railway station. Recently on 8th March, 2003 it has been inaugurated as a commercial airport. Daily flights are available from Gorakhpur to Delhi and Calcutta via Lucknow.

 

By Raod:-

 

There is a well maintained network of roads connecting major parts of the state. Frequent buses are available from Gorakhpur to Sanauli, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Delhi etc.

 

By Train:-

 

Gorakhpur is well connected by rail with all major cities of India. It is an important station in Eastern U.P and also the headquarters of North-Eastern Railway.