Master The Art of Block Printing

BLOCK PRINTING TOOL KIT

Lesson 3 of 25

Block printing tool kit

Molly outlines the essential tools you'll need to get started with block printing.

EXPLORE LESSON PLAN

Molly outlines the essential tools you'll need to get started with block printing.

Essential Tools

  • Tracing paper
  • Printing paper
  • Lino cutting toolset
  • with a Safety Hand Guard
  • Pre-mounted lino block
  • Stippler
  • Eco fabric paint
  • Fruit knife
  • Biscuit cutter
  • Sand paper
  • Iron
  • Paintbrushes
  • Tea towel
  • Apron
  • Fabrics; cotton and linen
  • Paint tray

Recommended Tools

  • Felt or old wool blankets as padding
  • A sturdy and tall table
  • Sugar paper
  • Khadi paper
  • Sketchbook
  • Large potato
  • Vintage Indian printing blocks

Paints

  • Poster paint
  • Emulsion paint
  • Water-based screen printing paint
  • Chalk paint

Printing on paper

  • You can print on paper with poster paint, emulsion paint, or screen printing paint.

Printing on fabric

  • Molly suggests using water-based screen printing paint, emulsion paint, or chalk
  • paint when printing on fabric.Molly uses a print pad made of felt mounted on a plywood panel.
  • Padding on the table is very important as it soaks up excess paint and has a lot of give.
  • Sugar paper is lovely and absorbent.
  • Khadi paper is waste from the t-shirt manufacturing process.
  • Molly recommends as thick lino as possible.
  • Prints on fabric are set with an iron on a dry setting.
  • Molly recommends washing blocks in cold water and towelling them down, then leaving them to air dry.
  • Essdee sells a great Lino Cutting & Printing Kit, which you can get here.

Molly's pre-made kits

  • Molly sells various block printing kits that can be useful when taking this course.
  • You can buy a card-making kit, a tea-towel kit and a lampshade kit. You can find further information about Molly's kits here.