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How the outline, filler and background blocks combine, and which natural sources give each colour.
A block-printed pattern is built from separate carved blocks, each carrying one part of the design. The outline block prints the drawing first, the filler block adds the body of the motif, and the background block lays the field around it. Three blocks, three passes, one cloth.
The order matters: outline first so every later block has a line to register against, filler second so colour sits inside the drawing, background last so the field closes the gaps without covering the motif.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
Colour comes from natural sources. The vegetable and mineral dyes used in this tradition each behave differently on cotton and on silk, and each needs its own mordant before the fibre will hold it.
Registration is what makes the three blocks read as one pattern. A misaligned filler block shows immediately as a colour spilling past the outline, which is why printers check each impression against the first.
The same motif can be printed in two or three colourways by swapping the filler and background blocks while keeping the outline block unchanged.
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