Block Printing

As a part of my printed textiles course, and with being where I am, it made sense to participate in a block printing workshop. This is one of the earliest and admittedly slowest methods of textile print, but it has origins in India and here there is a massive industry which creates gorgeous and unique effects.

Our workshop took place on a Saturday (we were informed of this less than 24 hours beforehand) with men from Kiran Bhulabhai Chitara, a block company, bringing us treated cotton fabrics as well as natural vegetable dyes and traditional blocks to learn with and use. After pinning and pulling the fabrics, we began slowly using bamboo quills to do some handwork and sketching into the fabrics, attempting to combine traditional Hindi Matani Pachedi (temple hangings, usually rectangular fabrics for behind an alter) with our own styles and designs from our personal print project. For me, this was particularly tricky as I was focusing on geometric shapes and lines within architecture.  But still, I welcomed the challenge, using circles and lines filled with the more traditional pattern to create something new whilst exploring a little of traditional India.

The hardest part was that the dyes, being natural, did not colour the fabric true to the final outcome. For example, the red dye produces a green colour as it is applied, and only turns red once it has been finished through boiling. This was both exciting and frustrating not knowing how the piece would really look.

Learning the art of actual block printing was interesting. I loved watching the ‘stamp pad’ be created through using the dyes with fabrics which creates an even base to coat the block with colour - different thicknesses of fabrics used within the ‘pad’ creates different effects of line when the block is printed. The wooden blocks were themselves beautiful, very intricate in the traditional fashion with cleverly carved handles. After several practices of stamping and pressing evenly then removing in a swift motion, I attempted to try matching up repeats as well as masking and stencilling with the blocks.

These methods can create such beautiful results; never quite producing the same print every time as the dye coats differently or a different pressure is applied. This works to produce a stunning human uniqueness to a printed textile.