By Hitesh Sharma, Founder · Jaipur Bedsheet Wholesale, Sanganer, Jaipur · Updated 22 October 2026
Traditional natural dye recipes
| Colour | Hindi name | Made from | Quantity / time (as recorded) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | Syahi | Iron horseshoes + jaggery in water, earthen matka | 20–25 horseshoes + 0.5 kg gud; ready in 1 week |
| Red | Begar | Alum (phitkari) + gum + red ochre (geru), copper vessel | 1 kg alum + 250 g gum + 100 g geru; ready in 3 days |
| Fast red / black | Aal (alizarin) | Pounded aal wood | Boiled with dhawadiya flowers (ghaan rangna) |
| Yellow (mordant) | Harda | Myrobalan powder + sesame oil + water | About 3 kg per 100 m of cloth |
| Golden yellow | Kasumba | Dried safflower | — |
| Light yellow | Nashpal, harsingar | Pomegranate rind, night-jasmine flowers | — |
| Blue | Neel | Indigo vat with lime, jaggery and pomegranate rind | 4 kg indigo dyes ~100 m; +2 kg per extra 100 m |
| Green | Hara | Turmeric (haldi) over indigo | — |
Dhawadiya flowers were added for clean, deep colour, and gum or guar gum thickened the print paste.
Bagru’s natural palette
The book lists the natural colours Bagru experimented with for fashion: alizarin, pomegranate rind, majith (madder), raw kattha (catechu), kesula (palash) flowers, babool bark, nutmeg shells, ratan jot and harsingar flowers. Bagru prints on red and kathai grounds owe their warm glow to these dyes.
Why natural dyes became rare
The book is candid about the decline: pure alizarin and indigo became hard to get, colour prices rose, cheap colours spread, and some makers mixed chemical colours into natural ones – which faded fast and damaged trust. Screen printing then made cheaper, uniform cloth possible. Today most wholesale bedsheets, across the market, are printed with modern colourfast dyes because they give consistent shades across bulk lots.
What this means when you buy
- Ask directly which dye a range uses – natural, or modern colourfast dyes.
- Expect variation with natural dyes: shade changes between lots are normal.
- Care: wash naturally dyed or indigo sheets separately in cold water and dry in shade.
- Price: true natural-dye hand block costs much more than screen print in the same design.
We’re happy to tell you exactly how each of our ranges is printed and dyed before you order. See our hand block printed Sanganeri bedsheets, compare styles in Bagru vs Sanganeri, or read the traditional Dabu indigo process.
FAQ
Which natural dyes are used in block printing?
Traditionally harda (myrobalan), aal (alizarin), indigo, pomegranate rind, safflower, turmeric, madder and catechu, with iron-and-jaggery black and alum-based red.
How was black dye made for block printing?
By soaking 20–25 iron horseshoes with half a kilo of jaggery in water in an earthen pot for about a week.
Are your bedsheets natural-dyed?
Ask our team for the range you’re interested in – we will tell you exactly which dyes and print technique are used.
What is the MOQ?
15–20 pieces. We sell only in wholesale.
