Aartyz Floral Printed Red Dress

Aartyz Floral Printed Red Dress

Block Printing

• Block Printing is a method of hand printing on textiles with inks.
• Printing designs onto fabric originated in China about 4,500 years ago.
• However, hand-blocked fabric reached its highest visual expression in the Indian subcontinent.
• Block printing is one of the oldest stamping methods in history and one of the best known in India.
• Indians possessed unparalleled expertise in the secrets of natural plant dyes, particularly with mordants (metallic salts that both create color and allow it to adhere to fabric). In addition, a kind of mud resist-printing, called dabu, flourished in parts of Gujarat. 
• Thus, a series of combinations of mordant and resist stamping and dyeing enabled Indian printers to create uniquely complex designs.
• The creations of Indian artists reached around the world. 
• The designs adorned the palaces of South East Asian kings, the courts of Mughal emperors and even travelled to the far-flung capitals of Western Europe.