Color way: One of several combinations of color used for a particular fabric.
Continuous: Describes a process where the material passes in sequence through a number of stages without stopping.
Converter: Textile Company or individual that purchases grey cloth and finishes it, including dyeing and/or printing, and then sells the finished fabric.
Copper roller: Heavy copper roller upon which the image to be printed is engraved for roller printing. One roller is needed for each color in the design.
Crimp print: Print where areas of a cellulosic fibre fabric are printed with a thickened strong solution of caustic soda, or sodium hydroxide. The fibres contract and swell in the printed area, leaving an excess of fabric in the unprinted area which cockles and puckers.
Devore: Descriptive of fabric that has been devore printed.
Devourant print: See devore print, burn-out print.
Fall-on: Deliberate arrangement where one color overlaps another color in printing to give a third color. Literally one color falls on top of another color.
Head color: Colorant used in the print paste when producing colored discharge or colored resist prints. Also known as illuminating color.
Illuminated discharge: Discharge print where color, unaffected by the discharging agent, is put paste to give a new color where printed.
Illuminating color: Colorant used in the print paste when producing colored discharge or colored resist prints. Also known as head color.
Intaglio: Type of printing where the image is either etched or engraved into the printing surface, and the colorant is held in the areas below the surface.
Roller printing: See engraved roller.
Rosin: Naturally occurring resin from certain pine trees that is sometimes used as a resist in batik printing. Run: Total length of cloth that passes through a printing machine in one batch, with no change of design or colors, e.g. 10,000metres, 200metres.
Screen printing: See flat-bed screen, rotary screen.
Thickener: Substance used to increase the viscosity of a print paste so that it is the right consistency for printing, i.e. will transfer easily from the printing machinery to the cloth, and will not spread or migrate onto the unprinted areas of the cloth. Also known as thickening agent.
Thickening agent: See thickener.
Vigoureux printing: See mélange printing.
