The art of Indian block print fabric is labor-intensive, painstaking process that has survived from antiquity to the present by the beauty of products made hand. Pieces of cloth found in the ruins of Mohenjo Daro, an ancient city in the Indus Valley civilization, provide evidence that this type of decoration material practiced in India, as early as 3000 BCE. Art flourished in the 12th century under the patronage of the rajas. The 17th century saw a revitalization. And yet here in the 21st century, printing block hand knitting is an art practiced by Indian artisans for the enjoyment of the owners of the tissues throughout the world.

The process takes time, teamwork and, above all, skill. The three main tools used by web printers are blocks of wood, cloth and dye. It can take five carvers up to three days create a complex design in a block of teak for use in printing. The printers may use up to 30 blocks to complete the design. Separate pieces of wood are required for each of the colors used in a design and it is not unusual to have four or five colors in a professional design. It may take twenty people, each making 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 begins with wood blocks. Wood carvers cut designs into blocks of different shapes and sizes. The top has a handle for the printers to understand. Each has two or cylindrical three holes through it to allow air flow and allow excess dye to squeeze. There are also various points carved into the wooden piece that the printers used as indicators of placement, as the block selection and move to the next patch of cloth. Everyone is soaked in oil for one and a half two weeks to soften the wood.

The next step in the process is the arrangement of the fabric. Workers stretch 24 layers of jute taut over a rectangular table. Jute serves as a platform to provide resistance to the printing surface. Workers to ensure the fabric to the jute platform with pins, the force keeping instead.

When the printers are ready to do the printing, they select from three approaches. In the first method, called print high, the dyes of the fabric of the printer first. Then, the printer eliminates chemical dye the fabric parts of the project will have. The sections were bleached treated and then reapply dye to create the block print design. In the second method, also known as direct printing, the fabric is bleached, then dyed whole. The background color remains the product of printer to print the designs on the dyed fabric with wooden blocks. Finally, in resist printing, the block is used, not to apply the ink, but rather apply an impermeable resist, which can be clay, resin or wax. When stained web, the portions covered by the resistance does not have the dye. But once they resist is removed, the design has been created in reverse.

Printing proceeds from left to right. When the printer is using the discharge or direct methods, the bathrooms of the printer the block in dye pressing on the fabric. Printer closes the back of the hardwood with his fist to create a clear impression. Then the printer moves the timber to the next portion of tissue to be dyed, with points in the block as a guide for the placement of the blocks.

As they work, pull printers of a wooden cart with their tools with them. The wood blocks can be exchanged for a piece of cloth to another, creating different patterns. And custom designs different colors can be used from one tissue to another, creating still more individual work.

Each color of a design is done by a printer different, that behind the front and repeat the process. The process requires teamwork, as each subsequent printer must place the block in the tissue with precision create a beautiful model of the whole.

Once the pattern is completed in the whole length of the fabric, the piece is set dyes. First, the material dried in the sun. Once dried, the fabric is wrapped in newspapers and special steam boilers. After steaming, the fabric is washed, dried in the sun again, and ironing. Each of these steps contributes to fixing the pigment and making the colors rich and vibrant.

And it seems to work. This printing block was used for centuries and is still in vogue.

Kathleen Hobbins is the President and CEO of Sister Kate’s Products, based in Chicago, IL. She is particularly interested in fair trade and other social justice issues. Visit Sister Kate’s website at http://www.importedlinens.com

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