Bandan'a

Bandan'a, a kind of printed handkerchief of Indian origin, now extensively made in Britain, usually of cotton. The cloth is first dyed Turkey red, and then the pattern is made by discharging the colour with bleaching liquor in a powerful Bramah press. The pattern to be discharged is cut out on two plates of such metal (lead) as may not be acted on by the liquor, and of the full size of the handkerchief. A dozen or more are put in at once between the plates, and so many of these courses are entered together as fill the press, when the pressure is applied, and the liquor is run in on the uppermost plate, which is grooved on the upper side to receive it, and holed to pass it from plate to plate through all the cloth-folds in the press. The pressure on the cloth, to make clean work by preventing the spreading of the liquor, is enormous. The patterns in the real bandana style of printing are spots and diamond prints, the best suited for discharging, and even for these a pressure of 500 tons is required to work them clean. See CALICO-PRINTING.