Slab for drawing wires.

A raised, straight strip about ¾ in. wide and 6-8 in. long cut into the steel collar (which is shrunk into the neck of the steel cylinder) and finally copper coated. Its purpose is to provide a key for locking in the mandrel.

The simplest basic interlacing of warp and weft threads in a one-over-one-under plain weave.

Amulet.

A band weaving process in which warps are threaded through holes punched in tablets or cards which are turned to create shed openings for the weft to pass through.

Carpenter belonging to the Kanmalan community of artisans in the South.

Spindle.

A general term to describe the making of a garment by cutting and sewing.

Refined silver in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

District of administration in Kutch, Gujarat.

Administrative unit.

A sword with long curved blade, commonly used in north India.

Leaf.

To stretch, also a verb for weaving in Sanskrit.

Town near Dacca, Bangladesh. In India, Jamdani saris woven in west Bengal are known by the trade name ‘Tangail’.

Woman’s woollen loin cloth of the Bharwad caste , Saurashtra, Gujarat.

Narrow horizontal borders in a Kashmiri shawl.

Found in oak galls and many other plants. Used as a mordant and fixing agent for natural dyestuffs.

A stringed instrument, used to provide a drone accompaniment for a singer or instrumentalist.

Warp.

Yarn.

Weaver.

Embroidery design for churi, Gracia Jat, in Kutch , Gujarat.

Terracotta pan for cooking vegetables.

A type of weft-faced plain weave in which the weft yarns are discontinuous, turning back at the edges of each colour area, instead of extending continuously from selvedge to selvedge.
• Slit tapestry weave: the discontinues weft yarns turn back around adjacent warp yarns, forming slits between the colour areas.

Cuttack, in Orissa, has long been famous for its very fine filigree wire or web work in silver. Silver wire is first drawn in varying thickness and pressed and twisted into different forms and shapes. First the main ribs are fixed and the interspaces are, then, filled in with the delicate tendrils of finer wires according to the design. In Cuttack, the flower motif predominates. In addition to silver ornaments, attardans or rosewater sprinklers, boats, bowls and decorative animal and bird, especially peacock, figures are some of the articles made in the filigree technique.

Long wooden rod with six horizontal divisions, each painted with mythological divisions, each painted with mythological figures. An important ritual accessory in parts of Maharashtra.

Inlaying of gold or silver wire into previously engraved beads on a metal surface.

Orissa and Bengal jewellery is the best known. The Maukhali area of West Bengal can match the best of the filigree work or Orissa in craftsmanship.

Decorative fabric wall hanging, hung above interior niches; sometimes called l’kania in Kutch, Gujarat.

A cloth having warp and weft in metal wire.

Type of wild silkworm producing raw silk. Tassar worms are fed on any tree in hilly tracts and produce a variety of silk that is stiff in texture.

In the South the gold or silversmith occupation is dominated by the Tattans or goldsmiths of the Kammalan caste, also known as Visvagnas or Daivagnas.

The job of spreading the printpaste evenly over the woollen sieve.

Type of brocaded border design of the Maheshwari sari.

Triangular pattern on the sheetal pati of Assam, Bengal.

Technique wherein gold or silver sheets are embedded onto a previously chased metal surface.

Where gold or silver sheets are embedded onto the surface of the alloy, previously chased and hammered into place.

Lit. oiled kerchief. Square double-ikat headcloth or loin cloth from Andhra Pradesh.

Telia means ‘oily’. Refers to the ikat handkerchiefs of Andhra Pradesh where the yarn is dipped in oil.

Glotia rattle formis, wood used for making toys.

Stitch in Chikan embroidery.

Anything made by people from fibrous materials. The term includes fabrics made of adhered fibers like felt, items made of relatively unmodified plant materials like baskets and mats, fabrics made of spun yarns such as knitted and woven cloth, and items made of synthetic linear elements such as nylon window screens.
Textile structure: The relationships of the elements in a finished textile. For example, plain weave and tapestry weave are structures found in woven textiles.
Textile technique: A method or process used to create a textile. Different techniques can produce the same structure. For example, a cloth woven on a loom in plain weave can have the same structure as a basket interlaced using only the hands.

(Hindi) Roll of cloth of standard loom length.

An essential jewellery component of many South Indian weddings. It is a gold necklace consisting of a numerous emblems of which the thali, usually a phallic symbol, hangs in the centre. In the coastal regions of Kerala and Karnataka, the cylindrical bars are of gold.

Metal plates of brass, bronze, stainless steel used for serving meals.

Literally imprint, probably a derivation from the word sthapana, meaning installation.

Square or rectangular pattern on the sheetal pati of Assam, Bengal.

Partabgarh in South Rajasthan has a very special technique called theva in which extremely fine work in gold leaf is done on red, green and blue glass. The pattern is first painstakingly punched out on gold leaf embedded on lac. Coloured glass of the same measurement and encased in a frame is then heated and, while still hot, the gold film is slipped over the edge and pressed onto the surface of the glass. The article is reheated until a sort of fusion takes place between the two. Silver foil is placed beneath the glass to give the surface a uniform glow. From elaborate hunting scenes to intimate rasa lilas, intricate patterns are made on the surfaces of plates, caskets, panels and ornaments in this technique.

Any agent used to ‘stodge up’ the liquid colouring-matter and to prevent its spread by capillarity to unwanted areas of the cloth. It can be made of natural starches or gums or of artificially made ones.

Shadow puppets of Andhra Pradesh.

In Andhra Pradesh the Tholu Bomalatta shadow puppets are made from goat, cow or buffalo skin, these shadow puppets are sometimes more than five feet high. They are translucent, stained in vegetable dyes and are extremely stylised in facial and garment rendering.This tradition of travelling shadow puppet theatre typically enacts the epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata.

A simple continuous aggregate of fibres that is suitable for textile construction. The composition of threads varies from single strands of fibrous material, untwisted but knotted to achieve length to spun yarn which is plied or twined for added strength and thickness.

Raised couched metal thread embroidery which is worked over padding or a card cut to the shape of the pattern to achieve a three-dimensional effect. See also couching.

Each projection or insertion of the weft shuttle and bobbin through the shed opening in the warp threads. See also shuttle.

A process of dyeing fabric by hand while at the same time introducing a pattern. Areas of the fabric are tied tightly to inhibit penetration of the dye. After dyeing the tied areas are untied, revealing the pattern as a pale motif on a dyed ground.

A variety of spiral wire.

A sacred sign painted on the forehead. Also, caste mark.

Flat wire.

Coarse decorative thread embellished with rough pieces of gold, silver or imitation metal leaf.

A kind of stand with three legs.

Picture scrolls of Gujarat, literally meaning "recording" or "remark", they depict many legends in a single scroll, unlike the narrative painting traditions of Bengal and Rajasthan.

Embroidered border.

Tirupati wooden dolls.

A tool used exclusively in Java for drawing with wax. It consists of a copper or brass receptacle having one or more spouts, which is mounted on a bamboo or reed handle.

A wax printing block made entirely of metal strips and open at the back. It was introduced in the latter half of the nineteenth century to facilitate speedier production in Java.

A method used in block printing when the different colour areas of a design were clearly separated from each other; the colours were applied by means of a divided sieve and were thus printed at the same time from one block.

Tribe of pastoralists centred around Ootacamund in the Nilgiri hills, Tamil Nadu.

Button-shaped gold-embossed ear ornaments of Kerala.

(Bengali) Bridegroom’s head dress.

Embroidered door-frame hanging of Gujarat.

Dyestuffs obtained from natural plant, animal and mineral substance.

Slightly twisted raw silk, used for weft.

A new textile-printing method in which the pattern is printed on to a paper web and transferred by a process of sublimation (under heat and pressure) to fabrics mainly of man-made fibre.

A loom in which the heddles are alternatively opened by used of a foot- operated treadle. Also known as a foot-operated heddle loom.

"Age of threads", the second age of Hindu mythology.

Three jewels.

A resist dyeing and patterning process in which the cloth is stitched, gathered and tucked tightly before dyestuffs are applied so that dye cannot penetrate the reserved areas.

Natural dyes that are lightfast, such as madder reds and indigo blues.

Short bunches of the fibre secured in the basic fabric.

Pipe

Sweet basil considered to be the sacred plant of the Hindus.

Corner motif.

Traditional basket makers cum cultivators, in central tribal India

A fugitive yellow dyestuff obtained front he rhizome of the Curcuma domestica plant.

Woven border.

Weaving or cloth patterned by a regular diagonal alignment of floating threads.

Two or more weft (or warp) elements worked together by spiralling around each other while encircling successive warps (or wefts).

A purple colour obtained from certain shell fish, such as Buccinum and Purpura. It is mentioned by Pliny as being discovered in 1400 B.C. It was a lost art in the Middle Ages.