DIY Block Printing!

Today, I came across this BLOG POST.  I was very happy to see that more and more people are appreciating and encouraging the block printing process.  The post shows that there are simple ways to the more involved ways of block printing. 

The block printers we work with in India, do the more involved process as that is what has been done for the past 3 generations.  And it is a family honor that they have to, and want to, keep.  Their simplest process includes (1) first create the resist (which is a few hours manual job!), (2) print with the resist, (3) then they create a dye using flowers, spices, barks, basically anything from nature (4) then they put the fabric in that dye, (5) next they wash the fabric 2-3 times to remove the resist (6) and the last step is to dry it under the hot sun! It gets more involved when several colors or even different colors need to be made and dyed in! 

But this post in "apartment therapy" shows how anyone can block print at home via the simple methods.  Of course, the difference to note is that the DIY simple projects use paints for block printing, not natural dyes.  Read the Blog Post for yourself !

To compare, here are pictures of some of the steps that is involved in dyeing with natural dyes

Dyeing in natural dye

Drying

Believe it or not, he is making the RESIST!