by appliqué or embroidery. Tangkas are further divided into these more specific categories: Painted in colours (Tib.) tson-tang—the most common type Appliqué (Tib.) go-tang Black Background—meaning gold line on a black background (Tib.) nagtang Blockprints—paper or cloth outlined renderings, by woodcut/woodblock printing Embroidery (Tib.) tsem-thang Gold Background—an auspicious treatment, used judiciously for peaceful, long-life deities and fully enlightened buddhas Red Background—literally gold line, but referring to gold line on a vermillion (Tib.) mar-tang Whereas typical tangkas are fairly small, with painted area between about 20 to 50 centimetres high, there are also giant festival tangkas, usually appliqué, and designed to be unrolled against a wall in a monastery for particular religious occasions. These are likely to be wider than they are tall, and may be sixty or more feet across and perhaps twenty or more high. In Bhutan at least these are called thongdrels. There are also larger than average thankas that were designed for altars or display in temples. Somewhat related are Tibetan tsakli, cards which look like miniature tangkas perhaps up to 15 centimetres high, and often square, usually containing a single figure. These were mostly produced in sets and were usually used in earlier stages of training monks, or as initiation cards or offerings, or to use when constructing temporary mandalas. Another related form is the painted wooden top cover for a manuscript book, giving a long narrow strip, typically some 6 cm by 55 cm, often painted with a row of seated figures in compartments. The techniques for both these forms are essentially the same as for thangka, and presumably the same artists worked on them. Because tangkas can be quite expensive, people nowadays use posters of tangkas as an alternative to the real tangkas for religious purposes. Sources on Asian art often describe all-textile tangkas as "tapestry", but tangkas that meet the normal definition of tapestry with the image created only by weaving a single piece of fabric with different colours of thread are extremely rare, though a few tapestry examples in the Chinese kesi technique are known, mostly from the medieval period. There is a large example in the Hermitage Museum, although in this and other pieces the different colours are woven separately and then sewn together in a type of patchwork. Most thangka described as tapestry are some combination of embroidery, appliqué and other techniques. Process Thangkas are painted on cotton or silk.