The art of Indian block print textiles is a labor-intensive,painstaking process that has survived from ancient times to the present because of the beauty of the handmade products. Scraps of cloth found in the ruins ofMohenjo Daro, an ancient city of the Indus Valley Civilization, provide evidence that block printing was practiced in India as long ago as 3000 BCE. The artflourished in the 12th century under the patronage of the rajas. The 17thcentury saw a revitalization of the art. And still, here in the 21st century,block printing of fabric by hand is an art practiced by Indian artisans for theenjoyment of owners of those fabrics throughout the world.
The process of block printing takes time, team work and,especially, skill. The three main tools of a block printed fabric are thewooden blocks, the fabric and the dye. It can take five carvers up to threedays to create an intricate design in a block of teak for use as a printing block. The printers may use up to 30 blocks to complete a design. Separate blocks arerequired for each of the colors used in a design and it is not unusual to havefour or five colors in a professional design. It can take twenty people, eachdoing a separate task, up to eight hours to prepare a single block printed garment. With all this, the results can only be unique.
The process of block printing begins with the wooden blocks.Wood carvers cut designs into blocks of different shapes and sizes. The top ofthe block has a handle for the printers to grasp. Each block has two or threecylindrical holes through it to permit the passage of air and to allow excessdye to squeeze out. There are also various points carved into to block whichthe printers use as placement indicators as they pick the block up and move itto the next patch of fabric. Each block is soaked in oil for one and one halfto two weeks to soften the wood.
The next step in the process is the arrangement of thefabric. Workers stretch 24 layers of jute taut over a long rectangular table.The jute serves as a pad to provide resiliency to the printing surface. Theworkers secure the fabric to the jute pad with pins, keeping it tightly inplace.
When the printers are ready to do the printing, they selectfrom three approaches. In the first method, called discharge printing, the printer dyes the fabric first. Then the printer chemically removes the dye fromthe portions of the cloth which will take the design. The bleached sections aretreated, then dye is reapplied to create the block print design. In the second method,also known as direct block printing, the cloth is bleached, then dyed whole.The background color remains as the printer proceeds to print designs onto thedyed fabric using the wooden blocks. Finally, in resist printing, the block isused, not to apply dye, but rather to apply an impermeable resist, which can bemade of clay, resin or wax. When the cloth is dyed, the portions covered by theresist do not take the dye. The resist is removed and the design has beencreated in reverse.
Printing is done from left to right. When the printer is using the discharge or direct block print methods, the printer dips the block intothe dye then presses it onto the fabric. The printer slams the back of theblock hard with the fist to create a clear impression. Then the printer moves the block to the next portion of fabric to be dyed, using points on the block toserve as a guide for the placement of the block.
As they work, the printers pull a wooden cart bearing theirblocks along with them. The wooden blocks can be interchanged from one piece offabric to another, creating different patterns. Custom designs and differentcolors can be used from one fabric to another, creating still more individualwork.
Each color of a design is done by a different printer, coming behind the one before and repeating the process. The process requires teamwork,as each subsequent printer must place the block accurately to create abeautiful, whole pattern.
Once the pattern is finished on the whole length of fabric,the piece is treated to fix the dyes. First, the fabric is dried in the sun.Once dried, the fabric is rolled in newspapers and steamed in special boilers.After steaming, the fabric is washed, dried in the sun again, and ironed. Eachof these steps contributes to fixing the pigment and making the colors rich andvibrant.
And it seems to work. This process of block printing has been used for centuries and is still in vogue.
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