We love creating modern prints with ancient woodblock techniques!
Woodblock printing is an ancient textile tradition that originated in Rajasthan years ago, where designs were stamped onto fabrics by hand using intricately carved wooden blocks. It is a labor-intensive, and a painstaking process that can be done only by the trained and experienced hands of a skilled artisan.
Despite competition from faster and cheaper methods of textile design, woodblock printing has resisted industrialisation throughout the years and is still done without any mechanisation. The printing variations due to the manual processes involved only adds to the overall charm and appeal of woodblock printed fabrics.
Our blocks are made from teak wood by trained craftsmen who trace the designs onto the surface and then carve it with a hammer and chisel. Each block is made with a wooden handle and has several small holes to release air and excess dye. It is soaked in oil for 10-15 days before use to soften the grains of the timber. The detailing, straight lines and uniformity of design achieved by hand through block carving is simply incredible.
The primary sources of natural and vegetable dyes are parts of plants such as leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, barks and roots of dye yielding plants. These natural dyes are eco-friendly and bio-degradable and non–carcinogenic. These are soft and low toxic colours and are generally non-allergic. The natural colouring agents used include alum, turmeric, pomegranate, dried flowers and indigo. Blue comes from indigo, green from indigo mixed with pomegranate rinds, red from madder root and yellow from turmeric. Tharangini (the studio we use) sources its raw material for dyes directly from farmers or from locally grown flowers.
In woodblock printing, a master printer dips the wooden block in a dye tray with a cloth sieve that helps avoid colour clumping. He then stamps the block on the stretched fabric with a hard pound of the fist at the center of the block, ensuring even printing. The distance between each motif is marked onto thin sticks and these sticks are used by the craftsmen to position the motifs at regular intervals with amazing precision.
Here are some snapshots from our woodblock printing sessions and ‘Amazing Origami’ – our block printed range for little boys.
Leave A Comment