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1,000th member Louise Altman

We are delighted to have recently welcomed our 1,000th member of the Heritage Crafts Association, wallpaper maker Louise Altman – www.outofbounds.org.uk/hand-printed-wallpapers. Here, Louise tells us a little bit about her work and why she chose to join the HCA. if you’re not already a member, click here to find out more about joining up.


 

Louise Altman“I studied a Print Media (Book Arts) degree at the LCP (London College of Printing). The course had a very creative element but was equally technically focused on bookbinding and printmaking skills. I was always trying to make more time to get in the print rooms! After uni, I was fortunate enough to work at Book Works Studio with Rob Hadrill. It was here that I learned much finer bookbinding and making techniques that have informed all of my creative practices. I spent a few years working as a resident artist in schools where we pioneered a unique creative initiative in education, working with students and staff to promote creative thinking. Alongside this more formal career, I maintained a studio and continued to create prints, limited edition artists’ books and patterns.

“I first heard of HCA whilst reading an article on The Guardian website and was really excited to know that there was an association championing heritage crafts… Then several friends and artists have pointed out to me that wallpaper printing was an endangered skill and that I ought to let you know that I’m out here working in this medium. I’m fairly new to wallpaper printing but my designs have already been enjoyed by many and I intend to continue and develop this wonderful skill. Luckily I have been printmaking for many years so it’s just an additional learning curve to the skills I have been practising for over 20 years.”

Louise AltmanI spent some years visiting India (and still do, pandemic aside) and was lucky enough to be invited to a traditional block printing studio. This ancient art of block printing patterns onto fabrics became a huge interest. I spent some time on several trips with the artisans learning the techniques, despite the huge language barrier. I altered my studio at home and adapted a large table into one similar to the one I’d been using in India. I began printing onto fabric with half a mind to eventually print wallpaper. I joined a weekend course with Hugh Dunford Wood and learned the basics of printing wallpapers. The passion was ignited!

“It’s more important than ever before to support heritage crafts. I am an early adopter when it comes to tech and innovation but I also know that if we lose these skills we will be unable to retrieve a very unique tradition of making by hand.  I always think back to cave handprints and how we hold those early human marks in high regard. The mark of a human is impossible to replicate and we must protect it or future generations will lament our oversight.”

Louise Altman“Continuing to develop my wallpaper printing skills alongside my day job, suddenly the pandemic hit and we went into lockdown. It was being on furlough that gave me the time and space to develop a series of patterned papers which I am now producing for clients. My future plans are to develop several collections and to continue to promote this beautiful craft. It would be easier to develop these patterns for a digital wallpaper market but I want to remain a purist and hand print everything myself. I am in my element whilst printing and really enjoy interactions with clients who appreciate the work and mark of the artist’s hand.

“My process is to sketch from nature, I then turn these drawings into a repeat pattern design. This gets transferred onto a specially prepared block which I carve into to create the pattern. This block then gets handprinted onto prepared wallpapers using my adapted block printing table. Mostly I use my feet to print as you’ll see from the images. It’s a truly physical practice and I love listening to podcasts whilst I print.”

Photos by Anna Lukala – www.lukala.com

Block printing (wallpaper and textiles)

The Radcliffe Red List of Endangered Crafts

 

Block printing (wallpaper and textiles)

 

Printing onto wallpaper or fabric by hand, including carving the blocks, either into wood or lino, and manually printing the imagery, building up the design in individual colour layers.

 

Status Endangered
Historic area of significance India, East Asia
Area currently practised UK
Origin in the UK 16th/17th Century
Current no. of professionals (main income) 1 commercial block printing company producing large amounts of fabric
11-20 textile printers
11-20 wallpaper printers
Current no. of professionals (sideline to main income) Estimated 50+ textile printers
6-10 Wallpaper makers
Current no. of trainees 7 apprentices at Turnbull & Stockdale
Current total no. serious amateur makers Not known
Current total no. of leisure makers Not known – it is likely that there are many people printing as a hobby or as a very small enterprise

 

History

Hand Block Printing is possibly the oldest printing technique in the world with the oldest known surviving block prints found in Egypt and dated to the 9th Century.

Block printed fabric – In the 18th Century most printed cottons were imported to the UK from India and were the preserve of the upper classes. Towards the end of the 18th Century, they began being mass produced in Europe and became a more affordable everyday fabric. Today, block printing and the carving of wood blocks is still carried out widely in East Asia and India.

The last remaining textile block printing company in the UK is Turnbull & Stockdale based on the Isle of Man. They have retained all the traditional block printing skills and knowledge in-house and supply hand printed fabric through their workshop in Thailand where they have seven apprentices.  Turnbull & Stockdale also cut and maintain wood printing blocks and carry out a range of heritage printing processes such as warp printing.

Block printed wallpaper – Paper didn’t reach Europe until the 12th Century, despite being invented in China hundreds of years prior, and it wasn’t until the 16th Century that printed wallpaper began to be produced. Britain was one of the first countries to employ the hand block printing technique specifically for wallpaper after adapting the process from Chinese and Indian textile production of the time. The first printed wallpapers were produced as an alternative to the tapestries and wall hangings that came before them and were printed in monochrome carbon ink with colour brushed onto the design by hand afterwards, if it was required. The very earliest designs were Damasks which reflected the popular Chinese Silk Damasks that were trading amongst the wealthy in Europe. Wallpaper was also a commodity for the wealthy in the beginning with the printing technique being a highly skilled and laborious process.

Hand-blocked wallpapers use hand-carved blocks and by the 18th century designs include panoramic views of antique architecture, exotic landscapes and pastoral subjects, as well as repeating patterns of stylized flowers, people and animals.

Artisan block printing – Block printing is currently enjoying a modest revival as a craft. There has been a recent resurgence in people who are interested in artisan made papers and fabrics, and value the special qualities that hand block printing can bring.

Social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest have led to many people starting block printing as a hobby or as a small craft business. Some printers are also running courses in block printing and hobby printing kits and supplies are readily available.

 

Techniques

  • Printing from wooden blocks: While companies such as Cole & Sons have an archive of their blocks to design from and refer to, they are rarely used today as working tools.
  • Wallpaper printing from lino blocks: There is an artisan tradition of printing from hand-cut lino blocks. The design is laid out and cut into lino blocks, either in relief or intaglio. The paper is pre-coloured, paint is added to the block, and the design is printed, either with a handheld roller or a hand-planked printing press. There are three makers in the UK practising this technique to make wallpaper
  • Fabric printing from lino blocks: The prepared fabric is secured to the printing table and ink is applied to the block.  The design is printed using either hand pressure or roller, or in the case of a lino block backed with wood for strength, a mallet tap is used to discharge the ink from the block onto the fabric.

 

Local forms

n/a

Sub-crafts

  • Print block making
  • Warp printing
  • Wallpaper making
  • Domino wallpaper making (printed on overlapping sheets rather than rolls)
  • Textile printing

 

Issues affecting the viability of the craft

  • Market issues: It is hard to make a viable income from block printing as it is a slow and exacting process. It has now become a niche product aimed at the mid/high range market.
  • Market issues: Marketing of hand printed products has become more reliant on a specific ‘appreciative’ consumer market and the actual making, rather than the product itself, becomes just as important (and time consuming) marketing wise.
  • Competition from overseas makers and large, commercial makers: It is difficult for small makers to compete with larger companies who mass produce fabric using cheaper, faster techniques. Despite this, there has been a resurgence in people who are interested in artisan made products and value the special qualities that hand block printing can bring.
  • Lack of awareness: young people are not aware of the process and new entrants are tending to come to it when they are in their late 20s and 30s.
  • Training: Lack of specific training in colleges but also lack of existing practitioners where students might find further formalised training/experience.
  • Domination of digital: design and patterning is now heavily dominated by digital and this could pose a threat to hand printing and non-digital design processes.

 

Support organisations

  • The Wallpaper History Society

 

Craftspeople currently known

Textiles

Wallpaper

  • Hugh Dunford Wood, Lyme Regis – learned as the apprentice of Peggy Angus in Camden Town in the 1970s
  • Cameron Short, Thorncombe, Dorset
  • Katherine Morris, London
  • James Randolph Rogers
  • Sarah Jane Palmer, Muriel Design
  • Anneliese Appleby
  • Louise Altman, Out of Bounds
  • Allyson McDermott
  • Deborah Bowness

Businesses employing two or more makers:

  • Cole & Son (Wallpapers) Ltd, London. Hand block print wallpaper from original wooden blocks, but do not carve blocks.
  • Timorous Beasties
  • Anstey Wallpaper Company – makes William Morris wallpaper using block printing
  • Bruce Fine Papers

 

Other information

Hugh Dunford Wood will be 74 at his next birthday and has no-one to take over printing from his blocks.

References