Introduction to Block Printing

Introduction to Block Printing

What is Block Printing?

Woodblock printing or block printing could be a technique for printing text, pictures or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a technique of printing on textiles and later paper. As a technique of printing on fabric, the earliest living examples from China date to before 220 AD. Woodblock printing existed in Tang China throughout the seventh century AD and remained the foremost common East Asian methodology of printing books and different texts, additionally as pictures, till the nineteenth century. Ukiyo-e is that the known kind of Japanese woodblock art print. Most European uses of the technique for printing pictures on paper square measure coated by the art term woodcut, aside from the block-books created chiefly within the fifteenth century in the Republic of India.

HISTORY OF WOODBLOCK PRINTING-

The earliest woodblock written fragments to survive square measure from China and square measure of silk, written with flowers in 3 colors from the Han (before AD 220). It’s clear that woodblock printing developed in Asia many centuries before Europe. The Chinese were the primary to use the method to print solid text, and equally that, much later, in Europe the printing of pictures on textiles developed into the printing of pictures on paper (woodcuts). It’s conjointly currently established that the employment in Europe of a similar method to print substantial amounts of text alongside pictures in block-books solely, happened four hundred years when the event of the movable kind by atomic number 83 Sheng (990–1051) throughout the Northern dynasty of China.

Colored woodcut Buddha, tenth century, China
In China, another to woodblock printing was a system of reprography since the Han mistreatment sculptured stone steles to breed pages of text. The 3 necessary elements for woodblock printing square measure the wood engraving, that carries the planning cut in relief; dye or ink, that had been widely employed in the traditional world; and either textile or paper, that was initially developed in China, round the third century before Christ or ordinal century before Christ. It appears that woodblock printing on papyrus has ne’er been practiced, though it might be potential.

EARLY USES OF WOODBLOCK PRINTING-
Chinese woodblock printing is associated with Buddhism, which encouraged the spread of charms and sutras.
Block printing has conjointly been extensively used for ornamental functions like materials, leathers, and wallpaper. This is often best with repetitive patterns composed of 1 or a tiny variety of motifs that area unit small to medium in size.

DIVERSITY OF BLOCK PRINTING-

There are many types of woodblock printing that are being practiced, some of these are.
1.BAGH
Bagh is a block printing technique which is named after a district in Madhya Pradesh, India. It is named after bagh because it is practiced the most there.
2.KOBAN
Koban is a woodblock printing technique practiced in japan. These are beautiful patterns which are made on cloths.
3.AJRAK
These are some particular shawls that are designed using woodblock printing.

Process of Block Print –

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