Lino block printing - initial experiments

*NB: this post has been set to publish itself two weeks after writing as it relates to gifts for people.

This week I've been teaching myself how to carve lino and block print fabric. I've been using 15x15cm pseudo-lino squares for my initial trials. My local art store didn't stock lino or lino substitutes however Officeworks will allow you to order them for next day pick up. Each square costs $6.50 which isn't too bad. I've also bought a 5 pack of basic carving tools, a V, two U shapes and two different straight blades for $10 from the craft-store.

I started with flowers because a) organic shapes are easier to hide mistakes on and b) i needed a Hawaiian print viking dress and had no Hawaiian fabric. 

The blue rubber is pretty easy to carve and doesn't have a grain so you can make smooth circular shapes quite easily. I've mostly used the V tool for the lines, and the U tools for carving away waste. I quickly realised that since I hadn't bought a roller and my previous sponge experiments didn't work well, I was going to have to paint the paint onto the lino before printing. It's a bit tedious and can be stripy but in a pinch, it works. I also learned to cut away as much of the waste as I could to remove the possibility of accidental printing around the edges.

This pirate fox fabric is for Ceara. I think it fits nicely with her fencing and love of foxes. I hope she likes it.

More details, and early learnings on my next update!

Block printing experiments

I made my first attempt at block printing today. I spent a bit of time over the last week browsing online how-to's and gathering images of period paintings and extant fabric samples. Here is a great video of block printing in Jaipur. The video starts with a multi-colour print using four speerate blocks and then demonstrates a great method for turning corners - using newspaper to make angles. It's also comforting to see that professions (who do this every day) sometimes misalign the blocks. This morning, I felt confident enough to make my own attempt on a scrap of pale yellow linen I had lying around.

From what I can gather, a lot of block printing is done using wooden or copper blocks like the one in the image above (grabbed from a random ebay auction). The blocks are crafted in such a way that the design will flow from each printed block. The raised section of the block is covered in fabric paint or dye from an ink pad and then the block is stamped onto the fabric.

For my first attempt I decided not to buy a block from ebay as I only wanted a small design. Also, alot of them seem to be discarded blocks from India and I would want a complete pattern. Instead, I crafted a mini-block using 'Make 'n' Bake', a mont marte femo knock off. I got the idea from aan article by Lindsay Boardman for a polymer clay cookie stamp. I took the idea and made a small quatra-heart pattern stamp. The hard part was getting the hearts flat. As you can see in the image above, when I defined the groove between the hearts, the bottom two buckled. I used Pebeo's Setacolour opaque for this first experiment. Mostly because I have a couple of pots sitting around my house from a previous abortive fabric painting attempt. I ended up painting the dye onto the stamp as I didn't have an ink pad and I wasn't going to be doing many stamps. It took me a while to master getting most of the design on the fabric. The left two stamps in the image below are the best print I achieved with the stamp alone. The print on the right I touched up with a paint brush.

I quite like this effect and will try it again to make a small Persian headscarf or possibly even a full tunic (if I get around to making more stamps). In the mean time, I'm going to look for a rubber stamp of two crossed quills. The type of rubber stamp Samantha used to use for her card embossing art. I suspect it may work well for a small block printing project.

Block printing

Cotton red and brown block printed textile from Fustat, Egypt. Item 73.408 The Textile Museum

I don't tend to do image round-ups all that often, because you can only show a few choice images in a good blog post. Instead, I store all my reference images in Pinterest so my collection slowly grows rather than remaining a static blog post, or even worse, having to revise or repost. Since receiving two beautiful block printed sarees from Flori of Northshield I've been investigating the process of block printing. I'll also been looking at various scraps of block printed fabric originating from India. Most of these scraps were found in Fustat, the old capital of Egypt. Due to the drier climate and the fact the Egyptians don't really burn their dead, these pieces have been preserved. According to the Textile Museum, Fustat fragments are red or blue dyes with a variety patterns, both open and closed.

I've included a number of images here as I'm considering doing my own block printed item, probably a small headscarf or heraldic favors. Once I've worked out what works best for me, I may even teach a class at St Monicas. Time to see if my vague recollections of what Piers taught me 10 years ago actually work!

 

Textile fragment. India. Gujarat, 13th - 14th C. Cotton plain wave, block-resist dyed. From LACMA

 

Textile Fragment, Egypt, Early Medieval. Linen plain weave, resist dyed. From LACMA -  (M.2002.1.695)

It seems that the complexity of the extant patterns in period are similar to what is achieved today, there are some lovely examples on my Pennsic Treasures 2 post. Also, this white and red dupatta which I got at the same time as my Pennsic Sarees.

Sources of dye in India

Sources of dye in India*

Red:

Indian madder, Rubia cordiofolia – Manjistha, mordant dye for which the use of alum was prevalent. ^{1 2}

Mallotus phillippinensis – Kampillaka, Kampilla (northwest province), no mordant required, yellow until alkaline carbonates or caustic alkalies are applied. “without mordant it does not produce good colour to the silk or cotton fabric.” ¹

Oldenlandia – Parpata or jatuka or parpati, Oldenlandia herbacea or Oldenlandia umbellata ^{1 2}

Lac – laksa Coccidae. Insect dye. Also used as a cosmetic ^{1 2}

Kermes – krimi, Kermoccus vermilia formally Coccus iliciscoccidae.Insect dye. Combine with alum to produce scarlet. ¹

Conchineal – indragopaka, Coccus cacti. Insect dye. ¹

Red ochre – gairika ¹, geru ²

Red lead – sindura ¹

Achu – Morinda citrifolia ²

Red yellow:

Carthamus tinctorius – kusumbha, Safflower, known as the plant of Gujarat. Produces red and yellow dye. Red dye is soluble in alkaline water and known as carthamic acid. ^{1  2}

Crocus sativus – kunkuma, Saffron. Dye and cosmetic. ¹

Sappon wood –Caesalpinia sappan, bakam  ² or patanga or pattanga  ¹. Wood powder was dissolved in water with alum. ¹

Realgar - manahsila ¹

Yellow:

Tumeric – Haridra ¹, Hadi ² Curcuma longa. Also used to make blueish yellow. ¹

Kamala gundi – Mallotus philippinensis (Orissa).

Blue:

Indigo – Nila, Nili, Nilika, Indigofera tinctoria. Water soluable and fast. ¹

Indigo – Strobilanthes flaccidifolia  ²

Black:

Lamp Black – Khanjana, Kajjala. Mix with water, gum winba water (azadirachta). ¹

Alum mordant and iron ²

Other chemicals mentioned:

Natron – svarjika ¹

Lime – curna ¹

Salt of Potash – Kaca salt ¹

Alum - tuvari ¹

*Dyes in Ancient and Medieval India refers to the ‘late medieval period (eighteenth century A.D)’ so caution has been used when determining if dyes would be considered period

References:

1 – Dyes in Ancient and Medieval India. Mira Roy. 1977. Annotated Bibliography of Indian Medicine. Vol 13, No. 2.    Link - http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/data1/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005af9_83.pdf

2 – Indian ikat textiles. Rosemary Crill. 1998. V&A Publications. ISBN: 1851772421

Fabric find!

Found the perfect fabric for the snood lining (apparently called a goldhaube) in my fabric stash today!
I think it looks great under the pearls and from a distance looks enough like red hair.
My habit of buying interesting fabrics on spec has paid off once more!