Indian Handmade Paper

Vakils uses an exclusive range of Indian handmade paper for most of its wedding card designs since it is the epitome of individuality and reflects a unique ethnic sophistication.

Handmade paper has a long history. The paper was first invented in China. However, Indians are credited to have been the first to use paper made from cellulose fibres during 3rd century BC. Indian handmade paper is unique and eco-friendly. Whereas the handmade paper produced in other parts of the world uses mainly fresh cotton lintel, Indian handmade paper is produced from cotton rag waste. The amazing thing is that it is made of materials that are often dumped as unwanted waste. The manufacturing process itself completely avoids use of acids, which makes it 100% effiuent and pollution free. The traditional KAGZI makes paper from intriguing materials - tree bark, jute, grass, straw, wild flowers, leaves, even silk thread! The process is entirely hand made and extremely laborious - but the end result is a paper with unique textures, uncommon colours and a highly distinctive personality.

Due its intrinsic nature, there are several variations in indian handmade paper and there is no consistency in thickness and texture. There are even mild variations in the colour from sheet to sheet. But this, in a sense, is the beauty of handmade paper!

Silk Screen Printing

For printing wedding cards, Vakils uses a very unique process known as Silkscreen printing. This is a stencil process. The stencils are prepared photographically. After that, they are bonded to a screen of silk mesh for support and stretched over a wooden frame to create a smooth flat surface. A squeegee is then used to force the ink through the open (image) area of the screen onto the surface of the paper.

Since the inking in screen-printing is heavier than in other printing processes, it produces excellent results particularly for handmade paper, which varies in thickness, texture and weight.