Material Submitted to: Prof.

Garima Anand
Exploration & Submitted By:

Workshop 1. Afan Thabreez K P (Roll no. 2)

2. Arvantika Dhawan (Roll no. 7)
Technology 3. Bhavya Mishra (Roll no. 9)
4. Charuvi Ranjan (Roll no. 11)
Jury Submission 5. Kanishk Singh (Roll no. 15)
CONTENTS

Textile printing tools and their end use in exploration of

Surface Design Techniques on textiles:
● Infrastructure of a Block Printing and Screen Printing
unit
● Tools used in application of wax in Batik printing
● Types of blocks used for small scale production in
combination with suitable composition of printing paste.
Stages of Block Printing Process

Making of Blocks

Print Paste Formulation

Block Printing
Other Materials Required for Textile
Block Printing
PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Printing Process

Drying and Fixing the Printing Colors

 Construction of a typical block printing unit
● Construction should be well ventilated and if possible with the ventilation in
middle of the shed. This would provide both light and air circulation.
● Water is necessary at many steps –from pre processing of the fabric, dyeing
and then post processing.The fabric is added in the first water tank and then
is shifted after washing to the next tank. Thus it moves to more and cleaner
water. By the fifth wash the water usually becomes clean.In order to get best
results, soft water should be used.
● Many factors need to be kept in mind when constructing a block printing
unit. The most important being the circulation of chemical fumes inside the
unit. Thus the height of the roof is usually high (over 12 feet).
● Temperature variation has both good and
bad implications at different stages of
printing. While extreme heat spoils the
mixed colours faster, very cold weather
itself can cause problems in the results for
example in rapid indigo or discharge
printing.
● Sun and its heat are the most important
factors for various stages of block printing.
Heat does help in the natural development
of colours as well as helps in making the
colours fast. It is necessary to have a
natural light where possible, which
requires a number of windows.
 Printing Tables
Nowadays bigger tables are used, these
tables are about 5 feet wide, 5-6 meters
long and 4 feet high and are helpful in
faster production. The table usually has a
shelf the same size of the table on the
bottom of the table, where the blocks that
are being used are kept and so are the
fabric layers for the colour tray.
The printer moves with a trolley containing colours and blocks. The printing table is
covered with 22 to 26 layers of Hessian cloth and finally covered with three-four layers
of old cotton fabric known as ‘acharas’. Acharas are changed every time a fresh lot of
cloth is laid for printing.
 c.)Using newspaper
for partial print

a.)A color tray with fabric

layers on metal mesh

b.)Applying printing paste

to the block
 Equipments required
After tables, trolleys are the next important thing. Each printer uses his own trolleys in
which he carries the basic requirements.
● the colour tray for printing,
● blocks,
● a few newspapers to avoid dripping of colour on fabric by any kind of accident,
● Simple brushes are used for cleaning the block after usage

The tray for colour is normally made of wood, but sometimes can be plastic depending
upon the kind of paste being used. The sizes of the trays also vary; there is the square
design for normal blocks and an oblong one for border blocks. This size variation is meant
for saving the wastage of colours. The tray once filled with colours needs to be layered
with a metallic mesh and then various layers of fabric. The layers of fabric can vary
between thick hessian clothes to fine voile. These layers are chosen by the artisan by his
experience. He makes the decision according to the thickness of colour material, the
fabric to be printed and the carving of the block. Cleaning the block each day after
printing is extremely important, as otherwise the colour will get struck on the block.
 Colour Kitchen
● It is basically used for chemical storage
& other basic equipments.
● For making perfect colours, a stirrer is is
considered ideal if quantities are large,
● Filters are required for filtering the
colour pastes and containers of various
sizes are present in the colour kitchen
to keep the paste.
● A color kitchen has many shelves for
storage of colours and is the first place
to get active early in the morning. The
master dyer comes early in the morning
between 5 am and 8 am, and prepares
all the colours required that day.
Washing Area
● Four descending concrete water
tanks about 1000 liter water
capacity are required in the
washing area.
● The water should flow from first
tank to the last with help of
gravity.
● The fabric is added in the first
water tank and then is shifted
after washing to the next tank.
Thus it moves to more and
cleaner water. By the fifth wash
the water usually becomes clean.
 Open air drying facility
Open air drying facilities with a
huge criss cross of bamboos are
very economical and make is easy
to handle large quantities. Usually
people create the bamboo stands;
next to the washing area. This is to
avoid much transportation.
The fabric can be sent to the top of
the bamboo to be hung for drying
Ironing
Once dry then roll press methods are used
by most printers for ironing. This is a very
old method, but is considerably effective
and economical.

● The fabric is stretched with the help

of two people on the wooden stand
and then a weak solution of starch is
sprayed.
● The fabric is then rolled tightly, on to
the wooden stick, and in the end it is
tied with a piece of fabric
● The fabric is left on the roll for one to 2
days, depending upon the outer
temperature and the thickness of the
fabric.
● It is then removed, folded neatly and
packed in plastic bags of the relevant
size.
Screen
Printing
THE INFRASTRUCTURE
 Screen printing is a printing technique wherein a mesh is used to

Introduction to transfer ink onto a substrate. In areas where a stencil is in place,

Screen Printing
being impermeable to the ink, turn out as blank areas. Another
definition puts it as a stencil method of printmaking in which a
design is imposed on a screen of polyester or other fine mesh,
with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance.
 WHAT IS THE SCREEN MATERIAL
FOR THE SCREEN OR MESH?
Traditionally the name has been
screen printing because the mesh
was of silk. Later the replacement
was with synthetic threads like
polyester. You also had different
size of the mesh holes. The
outcomes automatically bore
different looks. There are also
special materials available like
nylon and stainless steel which
have also been widely used with
encouraging results.
1. The material to be printed on is placed on top
of the base. In the example, paper is being used.

2. A template made from card, with the required

shape cut out of it, is placed on top of the paper.

3. A screen is placed on top of the template. The

screen is made of stretched nylon fabric and
has a wood frame to hold it in place.

4. Ink is then squeezed through the nylon fabric.

5. A blade is used to spread the ink out and push

it through the fabric, through the template, and
onto the paper.

6. The paper is taken out of the screen printing

equipment and the printed pattern can clearly
be seen.

The Process
● A screen
● A squeegee Basic Tools
● A printing table with
and
hinges
Equipments
Stencil material
●
Required for
● Registration plastic

Screen
● Water-based
screen-printing inks
●
●
Printables
Somewhere with a strong
Printing
hose for screen cleaning
Screen: aluminum or wood
frames.
Aluminum frames don’t warp like wood,
so we usually recommend those.
However, our wood frames are finished
lacquer to help prevent warping. Try to
avoid pine wood frames that are not
finished with a lacquer since these warp
and are very hard to clean.

Photosensitive emulsions are

used to create a stencil.

Emulsions
 Printables
There are so many materials that you can
screen print on: paper, textiles, ceramics,
wood, glass, metal and plastic. Think
clothing, wallpaper, labels, metal and
plastic signs and electronics.

Two different inks for t-shirts are

an air dried water base, and an
oven cured plastisol. The colors
to choose from are endless.

Inks
 Squeegee
This is the tool you will use to push the ink
through the stencil. Our top selling
squeegee is the medium 70 durometer
for t-shirts. Different screen sizes require
different squeegee sizes. The squeegee
must be able to cover the width of the
design by 1″ on both sides.

Using an inkjet printer or laser

printer you would print onto a
transparent film.

Film Positives
 Scoop Coater
This your MOST important tool and we
sale these all day long. You want an
aluminum scoop coater, so that you can
apply emulsion evenly and precise
without drips. Mclogan
Chemicals
These are the basic 6
chemicals needed for the
pre and post press process.

Screen Printing
Press
For multiple color screen
prints, but for single color
prints you can use jiffy hinges.
Tools in Batik
THE TOOLS USED IN APPLICATION
OF WAX IN BATIK PRINTING
 Tjanting (or canting) is a Javanese tool for
applying wax to fabrics when making batik.
They have a long handle and a copper or brass
pot that holds out molten wax. It is a small
cup-shaped tool with a handle set at right
angles to the foot on one side and a nice spiral
arrangement on the other.

Tjanting or Canting The hot wax draws using the capillary attraction
as it is brought to the point with the material.
Tool Tjantings are available in a variety of sizes.
Batik Pen melts candles, crayons, batik
wax, and paraffin to form a controlled
thin or thin line. When the tool is
placed at an angle, there are no drops
of melted wax. It heats up quickly and
maintains an even melting
temperature. There are many types of
pens, such as batik funnel pens and
batik wax pens. Batik Pens
 Various craftsmen hand-carve teak logs
ranging from four to six inches in size. On the
back of each block, there is a wooden handle to
hold. The block has 2-3 holes for air circulation.
Before using them, they are kept in oil for 10-15
days to remove wood chips. The fabric to be
printed is washed to remove starch, bleached
and dried. Once fully dry, the fabric is stretched
out on a printing table with pins. There must be
Wooden Blocks no wrinkles. The batik blocks are immersed in
melted wax and then stamped on the fabric.
One of the ways to produce batik is Batik
block or is known as Batik Terap. In the
early batik history, the blocks were made
from wood, which was carved according to
the design. This technique is called Terap
Hitam. The producers slowly replaced the
wooden block with metal blocks made
from zinc, tin or copper strips. These metal
blocks can produce quality design and
intricate motifs. Metal Blocks
 Caps are a Javanese invention. A cap (sometimes spelled
tjap) is a copper stamp which is used for putting on a
whole design at once in wax. To use a cap you will need a
shallow flat pan which is big enough to accommodate the
cap. You need enough wax to cover about half an inch, and
a piece of flat kitchen scourer covered with a couple of
layers of scrap fabric. This helps to soak up the wax and
acts as a stamp pad. The cap also needs to sit in the hot
wax for a few minutes until you can feel the heat in the

Caps or Tjaps handle. The fabric should be on top of a bit of padding.

Take the cap out of the wax and shake off any excess.
The designs are "written" in hot wax with a pinhead
or a special stylus called a pysachok or a kistka which
has a small funnel attached to hold a small amount of
liquid wax. Heat the head of the kistka in the flame of
the candle for 20-30 seconds. Then scoop a little
beeswax into the funnel of the kistka. Use the
suggested kistka to apply wax, everywhere that there
are new lines in that step of the design. When you
have finished applying wax to the design, dip the egg

Kistka
in the final color. Keep going in this way until you
have reached the end of the design.
 Properly cut and sized brushes will give very
satisfying results. Of course, the minute line
that could do with tanning cannot be achieved
with a brush, but a practical line can make as
narrow as sixteen inches. It is dipping into hot
wax, and gently wiping off the excess wax from
the elongated loops without removing the
sphere from the shape. Allow this to cool, then
cut to a point with a sharp knife when stiff. Dip
Brushes for Batiks one foot into warm paraffin, pausing between
layers to allow them to dry.
Different types
of blocks
USED IN SMALL SCALE PRODUCTION
IN BLOCK PRINTING
 Based on Design Motifs
1. Motifs of flowers and birds: These are often found in the stem or in the
central motives which helps to balance the floral arrangement.
2. Motifs of inter-twisted tendrils: These are motifs of flowers comprising of
spiralled or inter-twisted stems, with flowers, leaves or birds present on the
same. These are used as ‘bels’.
3. Motifs of trellis designs: These are mainly the ‘Jaal’ intricate grid (connecting
designs), which were formulated under the Persian influence.
4. Motifs of figurative designs: These are animal, bird and human motifs, e.g.,
‘hiran’ (deer), mayur’ (peacock), ‘sua’ (parrot).
5. Motifs of geometrical designs: These are geometrical in shapes, e.g.
‘Leheriya’ (wave), ‘chaupad’ (check), ‘kanguras’ (triangular), ‘chatais’ (woven)
pattern etc.
Geometric Designs

Floral design
Figurative Designs

Border Designs
 Based on Material
1. Copper tinted blocks:

● Fine details are very difficult to cut in wood, and, even when
successfully cut, wear down very rapidly or break off in printing.
● Therefore, They are almost invariably built up in strips of brass or
copper, bent to shape and driven edgewise into the flat surface of the
block.
● This method is known as coppering, and by its means many delicate
little forms, such as stars, rosettes and fine spots can be printed, which
would otherwise be quite impossible to produce by hand or machine
block printing.
2. Felt- tipped blocks:

● A special feature of blocks used for block printing in Gujarat and Rajasthan was
the use of felt-tipped blocks, for the absorption of colours in a uniform way from
the printing container.
● The thick and thin part of carved area sometimes makes it difficult for the printer
to take the colours uniformly from the printing tray so the felt acts like blotting
paper to absorb the colour and transfer it onto the fabric.
3. Metallic blocks:

● To make metallic blocks, the metal strips are driven to a predetermined depth into
the face of a piece of lime-wood cut across the grain,
● When the whole design is completed in this way, the block is placed, metal face
downwards in a tray of molten type-metal or solder, which transmits heat to the
inserted portions of the strips of copper And carbonizes the wood immediately in
contact with them and firmly attaches itself to the protruding metal strips.
3. Metallic blocks:

● When cold a slight tap with a hammer on the

back of the limewood block easily detaches
the cake of the type-metal or alloy and along
with it, the strips of copper to which it is firmly
soldered, leaving a matrix, or mold, in wood of
the original design.
● The casting is made of an alloy of low
melting-point.
● After cooling, the cast block is filed or ground
until all its projections are of the same height
and perfectly smooth, after which it is screwed
on to a wooden support and is ready for
printing.
4. Linoleum Block Printing

● Lino printing is a form of fine art printmaking

where the printing plate is cut into lino. Yes, lino as
in linoleum, as in the floor covering. The lino is then
inked, a piece of paper placed over it, and then run
through a printing press or pressure applied by
hand to transfer the ink to the paper. The result, a
linocut print.
● Linoleum was invented in 1860 by a British rubber
manufacturer, Fredrick Walton
● Once you've cut your design into the piece of lino
(creating the printing plate), you spread a thin layer
of ink evenly across the lino (inking up), lay a sheet
of paper over it, and apply pressure to transfer the
ink to the paper (printing).
4. Wooden Block Printing

● This technique unique is the fact that the

design has to be first carved onto the wooden
block by hand, and then executed on the fabric.
● Its use has been reduced a lot now-a-days and it
is mainly found in metropolitan cities of India
and also the garments with hand block printing
are being exported to different countries
worldwide
● However, block printed fabric reflects human
labour and sensibilities of the craftsman which
no machine made fabric can ever do.
● Block printing represents a craft that provides a
sustainable livelihood to rural artisans in the
third world.
4. Nail Block Printing

● Printers of different areas use different motifs or

techniques and these block makers are experts
in making all kinds of blocks. While Ajrakh
prints have geometrical and star patterned
motifs, the Sanganeri prints of Rajasthan have
simple abstract or floral ones.
● They make blocks for printing designs in one to
four colours, sometimes more, but the
craftsmanship is so precise that the fields and
outlines of the motifs match flawlessly.
● Some prints are so intricate, that they seem like
they are hand drawn with a fine brush, but are
actually colour impressions of pieces of wood,
deftly carved by expert craftsmen
 References
● Physical infrastructure (handprintingguiderajasthan.in)
● (PDF) A brief studies on block printing process in India (researchgate.net)
● Blocks and printing styles of Bagru and Saanganer (handprintingguiderajasthan.in)
● Block Printing, Types of Blocks, and How to Block Print Fabric - HubPages
● Block Printing- Preparing Wooden Blocks (unnatisilks.com)
● (PDF) HISTORY OF BLOCK PRINTING IN INDIA | Rajendra Thakur - Academia.edu
● https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/wi4hpublications/files/2015/10/4H156.pdf
● https://studioresha.com/blogs/news/the-art-of-block-printing
● https://www.woodenprintingblock.com/
● https://craftatlas.co/crafts/block-printing
● https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/an-introduction-to-lino-printing-2578530
● https://www.instructables.com/Linoleum-Block-Printing-1/
● List of Best Batik Tools and Explanation | Batik Institute
● Batik (karyaneka.com.my)
● Using Caps (textiletraders.co.uk)
● LearnPysanky.com: The Basic Steps
Thank You