Block Printing

Wearing apparels which people used as a means of covering the body started to be produced with aesthetic sentiments with the civilization and acquired an artistic qualification. One of these types of arts is “block printing”.

Block printing is an art of fabric ornamentation made by using carved wooden templates and several paints and drawing or printing by hand on mainly cotton and silk fabrics.

Block printing has been commonly performed in Anatolia since the 16^th Century, which the city of Tokat adopted in time and presented the best examples of its kind.

 Examples of this handicraft mainly comprise scarves which women use to cover their head. In addition, they are also used as bags, table clothes and quilt slips.

Art of block printing is performed via two methods: pen and printing method. As the fabric is painted with the printing brush, the pen method is much similar to the art of painting and samples from this method are comparatively rare. Samples from the printing method are available to production and can be duplicated. Thus, printing method is the first thing that comes to mind regarding this art.

Block printing products are made by using the wooden templates produced from the linden tree which grows in wetlands. As linden tree is a comparatively smooth, easy to carve, durable and glue retentive type of tree, it is quite suitable for preparing templates. The pattern is drawn on this tree with a permanent pen and is then revealed by means of carving the tree with a tiny knife called “nakış bul”. The number of the templates to be prepared is directly proportional to the number of patterns and colours to be used.  

In 1950, while the famous painter Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu was seeking for a more common and a cheaper method to communicate his patterns to every household, he made a significant contribution and carried this handicraft to an “art” level. He prepared templates from 25 of his patterns, printed them with the traditional methods and painted them with brush. In 1977, his son Mehmet used foam as the template material and brought this art a relief in terms of both dimension and price. 

Our block printing artists are Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu Kalamış Yazmaları, Veliye Martı, Yurdanur Uçar.