• Judging: craft competitions, exhibitions and design colleges invite experienced makers to judge. A Kasuti judge always turns the piece over and looks at counting, tension, the back, the motif and the finish.
• Authenticating: buyers, shops and museums may ask whether a piece is hand-worked Kasuti (Module 8, Is it real? Spotting hand-worked Kasuti). State what you can see, and what you cannot be sure of.
• Consulting: brands, designers and artisan groups need help with charts, stitch maps, timing and quality. See Kasuti as a Business (Volume 2), especially Working with clusters and cooperatives and its lesson Becoming a Kasuti expert in the trade.
• Training trainers: government and NGO training centres need skilled trainers for new embroiderers.

• Documenting: chart and photograph old pieces, with the owner’s permission and full credit (Module 12, Kasuti beyond fashion, on documenting heirlooms).
• Writing: tested charts, articles, a book of motifs with their meanings and sources.
• Speaking: talks at schools, colleges, clubs, museums and craft events; live demonstrations, front and back.
• Your own names: name new motifs and methods yourself, descriptively. Never present another person’s method as yours.

Check current details with each body before you apply or advise others.

• Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), under the Ministry of Textiles, runs schemes for artisans and the national awards for master craftspersons, including the Shilp Guru awards.
• Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation (KSHDC) holds the Kasuti GI and works with Karnataka’s craftspeople; ask it about state recognition and its outlets.
• Crafts Council of India and the Crafts Council of Karnataka are non-profit bodies that support craftspeople and hold exhibitions.
• Craftmark, run by the All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association (AIACA), is a label for hand-made craft; ask whether and how it applies to your work.
• Exhibitions and melas: craft bazaars in Bengaluru and other cities, Dilli Haat in Delhi and the Surajkund International Crafts Mela in Haryana are among the places where craftspeople show and sell.
• Museums and archives: see Module 13, References and further reading.

• Take an apprentice and teach the whole craft, not only the quick stitches, with fair pay and a path up the grades.
• Credit makers by name, where they agree, on labels and in talks.
• Pay fairly and on time, and speak up for fair rates in the trade.
• Record older makers’ knowledge, with permission, credit and, where you earn from it, a fair share.
• Teach for free where learners cannot pay: schools, libraries, women’s groups.

• Hand work is hand work. Never call machine or printed work Kasuti (Module 12, Mass production, done honestly).
• Respect the GI and explain it accurately (Module 1, The GI tag).
• Mark uncertain facts: say “sources differ” or “traditionally said” when a story or date is not certain.
• Keep the counted grid and the clean back when you modernise (Module 10, Modernising Kasuti – without losing it).
• Credit sources for charts and motifs drawn by others.

• CA: “How should income from teaching, judging, consulting and writing be recorded?”
• Lawyer: “How do I protect a book of charts, and use photos of heirloom pieces fairly?”
• Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts): “What are the current rules and dates for the national awards?”
• KSHDC: “What would becoming an authorised user of the Kasuti GI involve for me?”

• Stopping learning once called an expert.
• Repeating stories as fact without checking.
• Using makers’ knowledge without credit or a fair share.
• Judging from the front only.
• Saying yes to everything and burning out.

A made-up example. After many years of stitching, Gowramma is asked by a family to look at their grandmother’s Chandrakali saree. She photographs it front and back, charts the border with their permission, and gives them a copy. A college invites her to judge a textile show; she turns every piece over. She trains as a trainer for a women’s group, takes one apprentice on fair, written terms, and writes a small book of motifs, crediting the families whose pieces she charted. She applies for a craft award with her best pieces, and says plainly in her talks which motif stories are uncertain.

• Which one skill am I practising on purpose now?
• Have I taught someone to stitch with a clean back?
• Do I credit makers and sources every time?
• Do I know where Kasuti is recognised, and whom to ask about awards?
• What have I given back to makers this year?