Also called ‘relief printing’, block printing involves carving a design into a block of material, such as wood, linoleum, or rubber, and using ink on the remaining raised surface to transfer the pattern to fabric or paper. A centuries-old tradition, block printing most likely originated in China as a method of decorating fabric. While block printing on paper is more
common in the modern world, woodblock prints were developed before paper existed.
Block printing is a simpler form of printmaking than screenprinting or intaglio printing, and many children likely learned linoleum block printing in school art classes. The possibilities are endless and ideal for creating unique textiles, no matter your experience level.
Today, you can easily jump into this limitless art with Mood’s new Fabric Block Printing Kit! This kit features everything you need to create your own blocks for printing on totes, t-shirts, fabric, and more. Also included in the kit is a blank tote bag and an instruction booklet to get you started. Download the free scissor and seam ripper templates below or create your own!
Purchase Materials Used Below:
-
Fabric Block Printing Kit, which includes:
- Speedball Speedy Carve Ultra Soft Carving Block – 3 x 4″
- Speedball Speedy Carve Ultra Soft Carving Block – 4 x 6″
- Speedball Lino Cutter Set – 6 pc
- Speedball Soft Rubber Brayer 4″
- Speedball Dual Bench Hook and Inking Plate – 7 x 9″
- Speedball Black Fabric Block Printing Ink – 2.5 fl oz
- Speedball Opaque White Fabric Block Printing Ink – 2.5 fl oz
- Speedball Transparent Extender Base Fabric Block Printing Ink – 2.5 fl oz
- Speedball Pink Soap Brush Cleaner – 1 fl oz
- Tote Bag
Additional Recommended Materials:
- Permanent Marker
- India Ink
- Transfer Paper/Wax Free Tracing Papers
- Scissors or Craft Knife
- Scrap Fabric
- Paper
- Paintbrush
- Palette Knife
If you’re downloading the free template above, you’ll find a few different options of varying sizes so you can pick and choose which you’d like to try on your large and small blocks. To transfer the design, I recommend some sort of tracing paper like this!
Will you be giving block printing a try? Let me know in the comments!
