Block printing Introduction

Block printing is the art form that has turned out to be a great source for fashion in India. People in metropolitan cities like to wear clothes with embellished block print designs. Stunning designs for apparel and furnishings are designed which has created its increased demand all over the world. And due to the different types of block printing in India, people are unable to experience a great variety of block printing techniques.

Block printing designs might differ according to the various places. The production is done on large scale at places like Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh. You can see slight changes in the design of different regions. For instance, in eastern regions of India, you will notice that the block prints are bold and large whereas if compare with the block print designs of the western region they are not so bold. Lepakshi and Ajarakh are the different types of block printing designs that are mostly demanded by people.

Particularly in Rajasthan, the variety of Rajasthani Block Prints which you can see is the Sanganeri print and Bagru print. As these designs have emerged from one state only, thus much difference cannot be seen in them. The difference lies only in the background color of both prints. Mostly Sanganeri prints are designed on the white background fabric and Bagru print is created on the red or black background fabric. Due to different backgrounds, the fabric gets a different look and the motifs are emphasized differently.

In fact, there are diverse techniques that are used to create different types of block printing designs. The techniques which are applied by the craftsmen are given below.

Types of Block Printing Techniques:

Discharge Printing: In discharge printing, the complete fabric is dipped in color and then the particular area on which the design is to be created. It is then reacted with a chemical to make it fade from that specific area and thus then the faded portion is colored again with a different color. This block printing process leaves the fabric with the special colored effect of block printing in textile.

Regular direct printing: This is the most common technique which is applied to the fabric to get block prints. The cotton or silk fabric is firstly processed under the bleaching process so as to increase its absorbing power for dye and then their grayish color is removed by giving them yellowish tinge. After this, the clothes are left for drying and once it dries up, the block prints are created on the fabric by the wooden blocks and dyes. Firstly, the outline is created using a crafted wooden block with black ink on it and then other details are applied with different colors.

Resist Printing: As the name of printing states, the color is applied with the resistant factor i.e some areas of the fabric are made resistant to color by applying a mixture of resin and clay on it. Then the color of dye is applied to the rest of the fabric which leaves the fabric with undulate designs which are considered beautiful in block printing.