What does aari work actually cost?
ஆரி வேலை விலை
Nobody will give you a single rate, and anybody who does is guessing. Here is what actually moves the price of a hand-worked blouse, and how to tell a fair quote from a cheap one.
It is the first question everybody asks, and the one nobody answers properly. Search for it and you will find either silence or a number so vague it is useless.
The honest answer is that there is no rate, because a blouse is not a product. It is a number of hours, and the hours are decided by the design. Two blouses in the same silk, from the same worker, in the same week, can differ by a factor of five.
What follows is what actually moves that number, so that when you get a quote you can tell whether it is reasonable.
The five things that decide the price
1. How much of the blouse is covered
This is the biggest single factor and the easiest to picture. A design on the neckline alone is a fraction of a design that covers the neckline, both sleeves, the back and the waist. When you send a photograph, the amount of fabric still visible in it is roughly the amount you are not paying for.
If the budget is tight, this is the lever to pull first. Real hand work at the neckline and on the sleeve edges, with the rest of the blouse plain, looks considerably better than thin work spread over everything.
2. How dense the design is
Two designs can cover the same area and differ enormously in hours. A vine running along a border is quick. The same border filled solid with stone and zari is not. Density is what you are looking at when one blouse "looks heavier" than another.
3. Stone and bead work, or thread alone
Thread work is faster. Every stone, bead and pearl has to be positioned and stitched individually, and the materials themselves cost money. A stone-covered bridal blouse is expensive for two separate reasons at once.
It is also worth knowing that stone work set by hand and stone work glued on look almost identical for about a month.
4. The fabric
Some fabrics are slower to work and much less forgiving. Heavy silk holds a design well. Georgette and tissue need backing before stone work goes anywhere near them, or the weight drags the blouse out of shape by the end of the evening. That backing is extra work, and it is not optional.
Sheer fabrics also mean the reverse of the embroidery is visible from the front, so the finish on the back has to be clean. That takes longer.
5. How soon you need it
A date six weeks out costs what the work costs. A date twelve days out in the middle of muhurtham season either cannot be taken at all, or means somebody works nights. Booking early is the cheapest decision in this entire list.
How to read a quote
When you get a number, these are the things worth asking about. A worker who is doing the job properly will not mind any of them.
- Are the stones set or glued? Set means stitched in with thread. Glued means they come off, usually within a season, and usually from the sleeve first.
- Is it hand work or machine? Machine embroidery is a legitimate product and much cheaper. It is not the same thing, and it should not be sold as though it is.
- What grade of zari? Cheap zari tarnishes, and near the coast it tarnishes faster. Better zari costs more up front and is the difference between a blouse that keeps and one that does not.
- Is the material included? Most customers bring their own blouse piece. If a quote is unusually low, check whether it assumes you are supplying everything.
- Is stitching included, or only the work? These are two different jobs and are often quoted separately.
Why the cheapest quote is usually the most expensive
The failure mode is predictable. A blouse comes back looking correct. It is worn once. Three stones are missing from the sleeve by the end of the reception, the zari has dulled where it was handled, and a thread has pulled at the neckline because it was never anchored properly.
That blouse cost less and lasted one evening. It cannot be repaired invisibly, because matching a design somebody else worked is harder than starting again.
Hand work costs what it costs because somebody sat at a frame for two or three weeks. There is no version of that which is cheap, and a quote well below everyone else's is telling you which part has been removed.
What to do next
Send a photograph of the design and a photograph of the material, say the date you need it by, and ask for a number. Not a range - a number. That is what the photograph is for.
If you want to see what different levels of work look like before you decide, the design references are grouped by design and by occasion.