Woodblock Printing - Materials Other Than Paper

Materials Other Than Paper

Block printing has also been extensively used for decorative purposes such as fabrics, leathers and wallpaper. This is easiest with repetitive patterns composed of one or a small number of motifs that are small to medium in size (due to the difficulty of carving and handling larger blocks). For a multi-colour pattern, each colour element is carved as a separate block and individually inked and applied. Block printing was the standard method of producing wallpaper until the early 20th century, and is still used by a few traditionalist firms. It also remains in use for making cloth, mostly in small artisanal settings, for example in India.

William Morris used woodblock printing and on the Victoria and Albert museum website you can see the process he went through to create such works.

Read more about this topic:  Woodblock Printing

Famous quotes containing the words materials and/or paper:

    Though the hen should sit all day, she could lay only one egg, and, besides, would not have picked up materials for another.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    What is to be done with people who can’t read a Sunday paper without messing it all up?... Show me a Sunday paper which has been left in a condition fit only for kite flying, and I will show you an antisocial and dangerous character who has left it that way.
    Robert Benchley (1889–1945)