Brocade refers to those textiles where the patterns are created in weaving by transfixing or thrusting the pattern thread between the warp. In regular weaving the weft thread passes over and under the warp thread regularly. But when brocade designs in gold, silver silk or cotton threads are to be woven, special threads are transfixed in between skipping the passage of the regular weft over a certain number of warp threads (depending upon the pattern) and by regularizing the skipping by means of pre-arranged heddles for each type of patterning. There may be several sets of heddles so arranged that on different occasions, they raise and depress irregular number of threads in turn, as required by the exigencies of the pattern.
Variations in the Brocades:
Traditional Banaras brocades can be broadly classified as:
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Zari Brocades |
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Amru Brocades |
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Abrawans |
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| In which the patterning is in zari or gold/silver thread. |
The kimkhab is heavy gilt brocade, in which more zari work than underlying silk is visible. The zari comprises more than 50 percent of the surface. Often used as yardage in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, these are popular today in the wedding sarees. The bafta / pot-than / baft-hana is lighter in gilt brocades than the kimkhab, and more of the underlying silk is visible. The zari comprises less than 50 percent of the surface.
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In these brocades, the supplementary weft patterning is in silk and not in zari. Traditional Amru brocade is the tanchoi. The tanchoi is a densely patterned, heavy fabric with no floats on the reverse – the “unused” threads are woven into the “foundation” at the back. Traditionally, the face of the fabric has a satin weave ground (warp threads) with small patterns made by the weft threads repeated over the entire surface'. It is believed that in the last half of the nineteenth century, three Parsi brothers by the name of Chhoi learnt the technique of weaving these brocades in China and introduced it in Surat (in the western Indian state of Gujarat). A descendant of the brothers continued to make tanchois in Bombay till the 1950s but was forced out of business by the less expensive versions of the Varanasi weavers. [tan = three; tan chhoi = three chhois]. |
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Muslin Silk / Organza Base: In the third variety, the ground material is a transparent muslin silk or organza, with a zari and/or silk thread patterning. So this can be a zari brocade or an amru. The amount of zari visible can also vary, and can cover more or less than 50 percent of the base material.
TYPE A: A sub-category is the 'cut-work brocade' in which the 'transparent silk fabric has supplementary-weft patterning woven in heavier, thicker fibres than the ground. Instead of each motif being woven in by hand as a discontinuous weft, the threads extend the entire width of the fabric, leaving floats at the back that are cut away by hand after weaving'.
TYPE B : Another sub-category is the tarbana (woven water) in which the weft threads of the ground are zari, not silk, thus creating a metallic sheen. Several other weights and shades of supplementary-weft zari are used to create the patterning, creating an extremely rich textile.
TYPE C: Some of the very exquisite weaves are accomplished with only gold threads, and without using silk. Designs are created with gold embellishments on a silver background. Such a style of using gold and silver threads together is locally called Ganga-Jamuna (after the two most sacred rivers in India, the Ganga & the Yamuna).
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