The Process of Dabu Printing starts with the preparation of mud resist the clay is prepared by finely sieving it. Calcium hydroxide (Chuna in Hindi), naturally pounded wheat chaff (Beedan in hindi,clay-lime-gum-insect eaten wheat mixture), and gum (gound in hindi) are the main ingredients to make the mud resist. The dug out mud from the dry pond is soaked in water in a separate tank overnight. The mud resist is freshly prepared before every printing.

The mixture of beedan and gound are along with mud are doughed to make a sticky paste. The special resist paste technique is commonly known as ‘dhabu’. Dhabu’ acts as resist and prevents the penetration of dye during dyeing on areas covered with ‘dhabu’. This technique is used only for creating patterns with indigo blue. Since the resist paste ‘dhabu’ is thick and sticky hence finer definitions cannot be achieved. It is applied with wooden block on the fabric and saw dust is sprinkled over it. Saw dust has two major functions at this stage-first to absorb water from the Dhabu paste and give additional layers of resist. The saw dust also acts as a binder which prevents color penetration while dyeing. The area where clay and sawdust mixture is present does not catch the dye and remains colorless.

After printing, the fabric is left outside in the sun for drying before dipping in indigo tanks. Small printing table- “patias” are used for dhabu printing and the printer applies dhabu sitting on the floor. It is done mostly by women and old printers, who cannot stand for a long time. The art of making ‘dhabu’paste is kept secret and the recipe is taught only to daughters-in-law. Every family has its own recipe to make the paste.

Post mordanting with alum- locally known as ‘Fitkari Rangai’. The dye extracted from turmeric and pomegranate peals is very fugitive and in order to make is fast, post mordanting is done with alum (fitkari). In this process the fabric is dipped in a big copper vessel filled with water and diluted alum. After leaving it of a few minutes (long period of time will cause the dhabu to come off) it is taken out, gently squeezed and dried flat on the ground. When it is completely dry it is folded and stored in dark places of at least 3 to 4 days so that the yellow dye sets in. Finally it is taken out for washing.

Washing – locally called ‘Dhulai’
Washing of the fabric is done in order to take out resist paste and excess or unattached dye from the surface. In this process the fabric is left in big tanks for at least 3 to 4 hours till the resist paste becomes smooth. The fabric is then beaten over a flat stone slab to remove the resist paste and excess dye. The beating of the cloth is generally done where there is a flow of water.