Mohan came to Bagru's printing workshops at sixteen, apprenticing under a master printer who is now retired. He learned the dabu (mud-resist) technique — the painted-on clay paste that resists dye — before he learned regular printing, which is the reverse of how most karigars are trained.
Most of our two-tone and multi-colour pieces are printed by Mohan or under his oversight. Multi-colour block printing is harder than single-colour: each colour needs its own block, and the second block has to land precisely against the first. Mohan's specialty is the multi-block Buta and Floral pieces — sheets and cushion covers where the outline and fill are printed in different colours, often a black or dark indigo outline with a softer fill in madder or pomegranate.
He works in his own small workshop in Bagru with two other printers — younger men he is training. The arrangement is informal: not a school, not a guild, just a working printer who has decided to bring others along while he still has the years to do it. We've worked with Mohan for four years.
He talks more than Ramesh does. When asked what he wishes more buyers understood about the craft, he says they often look at a piece and see the design first. He thinks they should see the spacing first — the rhythm of the press — because the design is just what's on the block, but the spacing is the karigar.