In 1875, the famous British designer William Morris created a wallpaper design using a method called block printing. This process involved using 30 different carved wooden blocks to print one roll of wallpaper. Each block carried a different part of the design. Interestingly, some of these original blocks are still in use today.
The design had 15 different colours, and each one was carefully mixed following a specific recipe. Each colour was then applied one by one using its own block. The workers used the right amount of pressure to make sure the colour transferred well onto the paper. They also used pins to help position each block in the correct place so the design would line up perfectly.
As the printing continued, new blocks were used to apply each new colour on top of the previous ones. After the wallpaper was finished, it was inspected. If there were any problems, they were fixed. This wallpaper is just one of around 50 unique designs Morris created.
Vocabulary:
• block (noun): a solid piece of material, in this case wood, used to print a design.
• pattern (noun): a repeated decorative design.
• recipe (noun): a list of instructions to mix something, here for colour.
• pressure (noun): the force applied to something.
• inspect (verb): to look at something carefully to find problems.
Source: V and A Museum