Tablecloth (Ghalamkar) - HT1032 | Persiada

Ghalamkar fabric is a type of Textile handprinting or handpainting, patterned Iranian Fabric. The fabric is printed using patterned wooden stamps. The stamps are mostly made of pear wood which has better flexibility and density for carving and long-standing utility. Ghalamkar designs are mostly arabesque, flora and fauna, geometric, pre-Islamic, hunting scenes, polo games, Persian poems, Armenian and Hebrew inscriptions. 

A tapestry may be stamped depending on its density and size, between hundreds and tens of thousands of times. For instance, a six-person table-cloth (2 meters by 1.4 meters) should be stamped about 580 times in a normal work, while with the same size up to 4000 times in an elegant work.

In the final stage, Ghalamkar is steamed for at least an hour to stabilise their designs. Then, taken to the riverbed and kept to be soaked well along the running water. Afterwards, the pieces are boiled in large copper vessels containing stabilisers. At the same time, they are turned upside-down by some wooden sticks and washed again in the Zayandeh Rood, then spread on the banks to dry out. Esfahan is one of the most important Ghalamkar producing cities throughout the world.