Printing techniques

Modern procedures for printing textile goods may be traced back to the block printing of silks in ancient China. In this method a wooden block with a raised pattern on the surface was dipped into the printing colorant and then pressed face down on to fabric. The desired pattern was obtained by repeating the process using different colours. Printing by brushing colorant through thin metal stencils and the transfer of illustrations to the printed page from engraved rollers in a printing press were also widespread by the fifteenth century.

Block printing remained a practical proposition until the roller printing machine was invented by James Bell in 1783. This enabled six colours to be printed at a rate equivalent to that of 40 hand-block printers. The success of the machine depended on the hard rollers, each of which bore an engraving (i.e. an intaglio engraving, in which the depth of the recess on the roller determines the intensity of the print produced) corresponding to a particular colour component of the design. The machines were capable of continuously printing six different colours in sequence, with the rollers pressed against the fabric.