The cloth arrives undyed and already exhausted
Before a single block touches it, the fabric has been washed in a solution of camel dung, castor oil, and soda ash for three days. This is called saaj. It sounds like a joke until you understand what it does: it strips the cotton of every finish, every sizing agent, every chemical shortcut the mill used to make it feel smooth in the bolt. The cloth comes out rough and slightly grey. It is now ready to receive colour. Without saaj, the resist paste won't bond and the indigo won't hold. The three days are not decorative. They are structural.
