Also known as “flat-frame printing “, this technique overtook woodblock printing around 1945.
It involves using a scraper to spread the color through a screen. This screen is made from gauze (originally silk, now synthetic) whose open parts form a pattern, and is stretched over a frame. As with block printing, each color of the pattern corresponds to one frame. A set of several frames is thus necessary to produce more complex patterns.
The fabric to be printed is pinned on a printing table and dampened to be stretched fully taut. The frame is then tilted by the printer, who applies a small amount of color each time and uses the scraper to spread it out evenly.
The printing frames are produced using a photosensitive technique.
Flat-frame printing by musee_de_bourgoin_jallieu