“The magic begins when the flowers arrive the studio! The flowers are sorted into great carpets glowing yellow, red, and orange. Some flower petals are used immediately to get bright yellows and the rest are meticulously cleaned, plucked and left to shade dry till they are completely devoid of moisture. We then store them either as petals or in powder form.” -Rupa Trivedi

At the studio, the dyers prepare the collected flowers in various ways depending on the design. Petals are plucked and spread out onto large pieces of jute fabric, creating a brilliant carpet-like effect on the studio floor. For instance, marigold petals can be dried completely and powdered for storing to be used later or used fresh, thus creating solid yellow and bronze hues and eco prints.

While the flowers are drying, the cloth is carefully prepared to receive and hold the dye or printed textures. After scouring the cloth by hand with natural soap nuts, it is prepared for mordanting and treating it for optimal dye uptake. (We even grow our own soap nuts used in scouring.) Natural mordants are the fixers that facilitate the dye penetration the fibers of the cloth. Different flowers require different mordants. Alum is used to mordant marigolds, while rose petals use iron. At Adiv, all mordants are either food grade or ayurvedic medicinal quality in trace amounts. Water is purified and reused on site.

The synergy of science, poetry and love used to create the Temple Blessings textiles makes them so very special and so uniquely beautiful.