Art Print: fine art painting prints or art poster prints.

Calico Printing is a way of preparing art prints on fabrics.

The Egyptians prepared printed fabrics, and the art has been long known in India, Persia, and China. In modern practice the same methods are used, except that the patterns are engraved on copper rollers, and several colours are printed at one time. The colouring matter of dyes is not fixed on the calico by merely printing it on, or dipping it in a dye, but it must be fixed by a substance known as a "mordant". Mordant a appear to combine both, with the fabric on the one hand and with the dye on the other, and produce insoluble coloured compounds called “lakes”, which are not readily washed out by water, and are termed "fast".

The acetate and other salts of aluminium, acetate of iron, and chloride of tin are the principal mordants; but soap, tannin, albumin, and alkalis are also used with particular dyes. The various methods used in printing are known technically as styles. In the madder style, where alizarin is used, the mordant is printed by means of the copper roller on the fabric; and if more than one colour is required, several mordants are used. Acetate of aluminium and alizarin produce pink and red colours, acetate of iron and alizarin give purple and black, and the mixture of the two yields a chocolate colour. Tin salts produce an orange; and by mixing and varying the strength a great variety of colours is produced. After the cloth is printed with the mordant, it is "aged" by steaming it in a hot chamber. Formerly this process was carried out by hanging the fabric in a moist atmosphere for some days. The next process is that of ‘dunging,' which formerly consisted of passing the cloth through hot water mixed with cow-dung, but is now effected by the use of chemicals such as sodium phosphate or arsenate. The object of these two processes is to decompose the acetate and precipitate the oxide of aluminium, iron, or tin on the fabrics. The cloth is then dipped in the alizarin, when the various shades of colour appear, after which it is washed in soap and water to remove the dye from the unmordanted parts.

In the "padding style" the whole cloth is mordanted, and afterwards other mordants are printed on, to produce varied colours on a coloured ground; or the mordant is removed or discharged in particular parts, and thus a white pattern on a coloured ground is produced.

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