Hand Block Printing Research Articles

Between broken root and artificial alizarin: Textile arts and manufactures of madder

Summary The developments in preparing and fixing dyes, and in creating designs and patterns on cotton fabrics, were among the principal achievements of the European textile industry during the Industrial Revolution. The most widely used dyestuff was obtained from the root of the madder plant and was the basis of Turkey red and other colours. At first the dye was released by breaking open the root. By the middle of the sixteenth century it was available as a fine powder. This was much better suited to dyeing and hand block printing, and, later, Turkey red dyeing and dyeing of machine‐mordanted cloth. Isolation of the principal colorant, alizarin, was achieved in the 1820s, and the laboratory method suggested a means for preparing a more useful commercial product, known as garancine. It reduced the cost of madder prints, and permitted mixing with cheaper dyestuffs. The subsequent introduction of refined madder extracts enabled direct printing. The purer colorants were shortlived, however. Artificial alizari...

The Casting of Surfaces for Textile Hand Block Printing

The Casting of Surfaces for Textile Hand Block Printing

Hand Block Printing

Journal of the Society of Dyers and ColouristsVolume 57, Issue 4 p. 105-108 Hand Block Printing A. Clayton, A. ClaytonSearch for more papers by this author A. Clayton, A. ClaytonSearch for more papers by this author First published: April 1941 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-4408.1941.tb02141.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume57, Issue4April 1941Pages 105-108 RelatedInformation

Textile printing: Its power requirements and electric drive

Textile printing is the process of applying colored patterns and designs to all sorts of textile fabrics. The origin of the art dates back about 2000 years and credit for its discovery is given to both China and India. The present method of printing, known as cylinder or roller printing was invented and received its initial success about 1783–85. There are five methods used in textile printing, namely hand block printing, perritone or machine block printing, stenciling, flat surface printing from engraved copper plates, and cylinder printing from engraved copper rollers. Of the five, cylinder printing is the most modern and important. By this means almost any style of design on almost any fabric can be produced in from one to sixteen colors, and the output from such a machine compared to hand block printing is enormous. For example, the cylinder machine can readily print in 1½ minutes the same number of yards of cloth that would require 15 hours by the block method. The machine in its simplest form, viz.: a one-color machine, consists of a print roll or hollow copper cylinder upon which the pattern to be printed is engraved, a cast iron cylinder, the surface of which serves as a backing for the cloth to be printed, the furnisher or roll which carries the color to the print roll, the cleaning doctor which removes the surplus color from the print roll, and the color box which holds the color. The rolls are suitably mounted in. bearings so that the print roll surface is in contact with the cylinder, the cloth passing between the print roll and the cylinder. Color is supplied from the color box by the furnisher to the print roll which imparts it to the cloth. After printing the cloth is passed over dryers to dry the fresh color. The load on a printing machine consists of two parts, (a) constant load consisting of the dryers, guide roll and cloth conveyers, and (b) a variable load depending principally upon the class of goods to be printed, the length of and pressure used on the print rolls and the speed of the machine. The print roll pressure depends much upon the operator giving what in his estimation is the proper set for the rolls. This has been found to vary as much as 100 per cent for the same class of goods. A series of tests made on several machines each driven by a d-c. motor, in one plant printing cotton cloth 27 to 36 in. wide, gives the following results: Speed Variation: On machines ranging from four to nine colors a maximum machine speed range on any one machine was 4.82 to 1 with a maximum and minimum production for all machines of 84 to 1¼ yards per minute.