Kalamkari (or Chitsazi) is the art of printing or design on fabric. In the past, most men's and women's clothes were made from Kalamkari fabrics. Nowadays, it is mostly used for tablecloths.It is one of the most important handicrafts of Isfahan province. The design is done on cotton and silk fabrics.Currently, Isfahan is the center of Iran's Kalamkari production. Kalamkari is done by means of wooden molds that have embossed motifs. it molds are made from walnut, pear and hawthorn wood because they are stronger and more acceptable than other woods. The colors used in the past were all kinds of natural colors, including vegetable colors, animal colors, and mineral colors. But nowadays, chemical colors are used due to the difficult steps of preparation and stabilization of natural colors. The main colors used in Kalamkari are black, red, blue, green, and yellow. Sub-colors are obtained from the combination of these colors in certain proportions. For printing four colors, four molds are prepared and used separately.
