WORKSHOPS · CHHAAP TILAK 2026
Learn the Craft. Make Your Own Mark.
Every session is taught by an artisan who is exhibiting a few metres away on the same floor. Groups are deliberately small, materials are included, and whatever you make goes home with you.
Dates: 11–12 September 2026 | Venue: Dhono Dhanyo Hall 4, Alipore, Kolkata | Sessions: 6 workshops
CHOOSE YOUR EXPERIENCE
Six Ways In.
First Impressions
Load a block, place it against the register marks and carry a repeat across a length of cotton. Your first metre will drift. That is the lesson.
Instructor: [INSTRUCTOR NAME] · Date: [DATE] · Time: [TIME]
Duration: 90 minutes · Materials: Cloth, dyes, use of blocks
Participants: Maximum 16 · 12 of 16 places available
Carving a Block
Three hours with a chisel and seasoned sheesham. Discover how much of the craft lives in the wood rather than the cloth.
Instructor: [INSTRUCTOR NAME] · Date: [DATE] · Time: [TIME]
Duration: 3 hours · Materials: Block, tools, your finished block
Participants: Maximum 10 · 3 of 10 places available
Natural Dyes & the Indigo Vat
Watch cloth come out of the vat green and turn blue in the air. Learn what madder, pomegranate rind and iron do to a fibre.
Instructor: [INSTRUCTOR NAME] · Date: [DATE] · Time: [TIME]
Duration: 2 hours · Materials: Dye materials, one stole to keep
Participants: Maximum 12 · 7 of 12 places available
Dabu — Mud-Resist Printing
Print with clay instead of colour. Dust, dry, dye, then wash the mud away and watch the pattern arrive at the very last moment.
Instructor: [INSTRUCTOR NAME] · Date: [DATE] · Time: [TIME]
Duration: 2.5 hours · Materials: Clay resist, cloth, dye bath
Participants: Maximum 12 · 10 of 12 places available
Reading a Length of Cloth
For collectors and buyers. Tell hand block from screen print, judge a natural dye, spot a recut block, and know what you are paying for.
Instructor: [INSTRUCTOR NAME] · Date: [DATE] · Time: [TIME]
Duration: 60 minutes · Materials: Reference swatches provided
Participants: Maximum 20 · Fully booked
Little Printers
A short drop-in session for children, using small blocks and washable dyes. Adults welcome to stay and get their hands dirty too.
Instructor: [INSTRUCTOR NAME] · Date: [DATE] · Time: [TIME]
Duration: 45 minutes · Materials: Cotton square, washable dyes
Participants: Maximum 18 · 12 of 18 places available
Looking to filter by craft, skill level or duration? Use Elementor’s Loop Grid (Pro) with a Workshops custom post type for a fully filterable, dynamic version of this grid — a static grid like this one can’t filter itself without custom code.
FEATURED WORKSHOP
First Impressions
You mix the colour, load the block, and set it against the register marks. Then you do it again, and again, across a metre of cotton — and discover that the difficulty was never the printing. It was landing the second impression exactly where the first one ended.
WHAT YOU’LL EXPERIENCE
- Mixing colour from natural dye
- Loading a block evenly
- Working to register marks
- Carrying a repeat across cloth
WHAT YOU’LL MAKE
- One printed cotton length
- Roughly one metre, yours to keep
- Printed with festival blocks
- Wrapped for travel
Instructor: [INSTRUCTOR NAME], [CRAFT TRADITION] · Date & time: [DATE] · [TIME]
Duration: 90 minutes · Skill level: Beginner — no experience needed
Materials: Cotton cloth, natural dyes, use of blocks — included
Price: [PRICE] per person · 12 of 16 places available
MEET THE INSTRUCTOR
[INSTRUCTOR NAME]
[CRAFT / SPECIALISATION] · [REGION, STATE]
Learned the trade in a family courtyard before learning to read, and has printed almost every day since. Works to repeats the household has kept for generations, and can name the season a length was printed in by the depth of its black.
Teaches the way they were taught — by handing you the block early and letting the cloth tell you what you got wrong. Expect to be corrected quickly and kindly.
At the block: [YEARS] years · Tradition: [CRAFT TRADITION]
From: [REGION / STATE] · Teaches: [WORKSHOP NAMES]
WORKSHOP INFORMATION
Everything, at a Glance.
Date
11–12 September 2026 — Friday and Saturday
Time
Sessions run between 11 AM and 8 PM
Duration
45 minutes – 3 hours, varies by workshop
Location
Dhono Dhanyo Hall 4, 1 Thackeray Rd, Alipore, Kolkata 700027
Skill Level
Beginner to intermediate — stated on every workshop
Participants
10–20 per session — small groups, always
Materials
Included — cloth, dyes and tools provided
Language
English, Hindi, and Bangla on request
BOOKING
Reserve Your Place
Reserve your place
Fill in the form and we will be in touch with payment details and a joining note before the festival.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Before You Come.
Yourself and clothes you do not mind marking. Natural dye stains, aprons are provided but they only cover so much. Everything else — cloth, colour, blocks, tools — is included.
Most of our sessions are built for people who have never printed before, and the skill level is stated on every workshop. Carving a Block and Dabu assume a little handwork experience, but not in this craft specifically.
Yes, in every workshop. The fee covers cloth, dyes, use of the blocks and tools, and whatever you make. There is nothing further to buy on the day.
Between 10 and 20 depending on the session, listed on each workshop. Groups are kept small so the instructor can reach every table.
Little Printers is designed for ages 6–12. First Impressions takes ages 10 and above, with under-14s accompanied by an adult. Carving a Block is 16 and above because of the tools.
[CANCELLATION POLICY — add notice period, refund terms and whether places can be transferred to another person or session.]
Ten minutes before your session starts, so we can get you seated and aproned without cutting into the workshop. Latecomers can usually still join, but the introduction will not be repeated.
Dhono Dhanyo Hall 4, 1 Thackeray Rd, Alipore Police Line, Alipore, Kolkata 700027. Workshops run in a dedicated room off the main festival floor — ask at the desk and someone will walk you over.
EXPLORE MORE WORKSHOPS
Still Deciding?
Natural Dyes & the Indigo Vat
Cloth goes into the vat green and turns blue in the air. Two hours around a live vat, with one stole to take home.
2 hours
Carving a Block
Three hours with a chisel and seasoned sheesham. You leave with the block you cut, which will outlast you.
3 hours
Dabu — Mud-Resist Printing
Print with clay instead of colour, then wash it away and watch the pattern arrive at the last moment.
2.5 hours
