India Block Printing


Back when I lived in Santa Barbara, I would walk down State Street lined with their posh restaurants and variety of stores and in a vacant lot between Pierre LaFonde and a Scientology building is a spread of all things India:  pillows, cloth, blankets, skirts, bags, trinket holders, incense and such.  I would always stop by and take a look around, such beautiful things were laid out on tables out in the open.  The cloths have printed on them the beautiful traditional Indian prints, which I've never known until today how it was done.

I assumed that the Indian print designs were done by machine like most everything else today and maybe some are today, but I found that genuine Indian goods go through  a way more intricate process done by hand called Indian Block Printing, a piece of wood is chipped away at to create the design wanted in order to use as a stamp for the designs that are printed onto the cloth.  After watching the below video of Indian Block Printing I feel a new sense of awe and have a greater appreciation for all things Indian.





Enjoy watching the process of India print blocking.