Dabu, hailing from the Hindi word dabana, means to press. It’s a very labour intensive, multi-layered process of printing fabric involving multiple levels of washing, dying, printing and drying until the final product is obtained. The wooden moulds/blocks in floral, paisley or traditional motifs are dipped in dabu paste, consisting of clay, wheat chaff, gum and lime and pressed gently on the fabric. The print is dried with sprinkled sawdust, protecting the printed patterns from
the final dying. Painstaking and gratifying!