'The traditional blue pottery of Jaipur will soon turn environment friendly with the introduction of a new technology which makes it free from lead and cadmium. The exquisite ceramic ware, with typical handpainted motifs adopted from Persia by the Jaipur king Sawai Ram Singh in the 19th century, will be fit to adorn dining tables in the future as they would be lead-free, less porous, and with an ultra-high-strength body.

The technology which would help to boost the market for Jaipur Blue Pottery items abroad was launched by the Rajasthan Minister for Industries, Dr. Chandra Bhan. A good number of exponents of the ancient craft, including Padamshree Kripal Singh Shekhawat who revived it in the 1960s, were present on the occasion.

"This will prove a boon to the sector and help exports," noted Mr. Shekhawat. Though he himself is not convinced that frit and glaze which contained lead would pose any health hazard after baking, he welcomed the new technology as the international specifications needed the "lead free" tag on the products. "We had to be content till now with the label of artistic blue pottery," he noted.

Those who experimented with blue pottery both in design and in product items, like Ms. Leela Bordia, could not so far provide this variety of ceramic products a place on the dining table abroad. Although blue pottery items though looked very tempting in their unique floral designs and alluring colour combinations so typical of Rajasthan, they could not have been used as dinner plates, beer mugs or containers for hot beverages and lemonades; as they leaked, and reacted with chemicals.

The breakthrough in the technique of Blue Pottery making was made by the Ahmedabad-based Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute (CGCRI) at the behest of the Rajasthan's Rural Non Farm Development Agency (RUDA) which had undertaken a project to augment its producitvity and quality. RUDA claims to be the only agency of its kind in the country promoting the rural micro-enterprises sector.

According to Dr. K.N. Maiti of the Naroda Centre of CGCRI, the principal investigator of the Blue Pottery project, major handicaps with the products of the category used to be the presence of lead in the glaze and body, which made them unsuitable for the utilitarian product market.

RUDA has also solved the problem of inefficient firing systems which resulted in blackening of the glazed surface, low strength and porous body by providing a new improved down draught kiln, in collaboration with DFID, Government of United Kingdom. It is a new beginning for an old, time-tested craft, noted Ms. Seema Bahuguna, managing director of RUDA.'
                                                                                                                            --THE HINDU, JUNE 12TH 2000

Jaipur is about two hundred and fifty kilometers from Delhi. It can be reached by road, train and air. The drive by road takes about five hours, including stops. It is best to stay overnight at Jaipur to be able to see the pottery and other tourist sights.