Ah screen prints-the ancient mystical art of getting ink on clothing…..but making it look awesome
Now we could go off for hours here about the the history of this kung fu art, but we’re not wikipedia. In fact the article for the wiki is here
We warn you now tho its many many pages!……..
Instead lets break it down for you guys
In the Beginning
Legend tells of a man in 1910 eating his dinner. By accident he spilt his drink on it and it looked awesome, and was intrigued to replicate the effects…(All lies)
Screen printing or silk screen printing as it sometimes known, is the art of producing an image on a mesh woven fabric, creating a design stencil on the fabric, and then applying paint to the fabric(Via a squeedgee) to leave a pattern underneath….
It originated in this way back in 1910, but was used for stencil art back in 960 ad china! Damn china did everything first eh!
The stencil creation now is created almost the same way a photograph is developed. The chemical on the screen reacts and develops in light much like a photo reactive film.
A couple of dudes were playing around with it in 1910, and it later coined the term Seriography from the greek silk (sericum) and to draw or write.
So how does it work?
By coating the screen in the chemical, a 2nd template is placed on top. When the screen is exposed to light, anything not covered by the template is removed, leaving behind the desired pattern or design. This process is known as photo emulsion, and the best thing about it is you can put your stencil design on via a simple printer or phot
Here you can see the pre design screen, the screen its applied to , the frame and ink
The screen is then attached to a frame, taped off to stop any further spillage or spreading of paint/ink, and held in place. This ensure s that when pressure is applied via the squeedgee, we keep the design in place and get equal pressure on the screen.
We force the ink through the gaps in the screen to leave behind our image on the tee/garment/all that jazz.
Overly simplified but the easiest way to get the message across!
Due to the limitations of application (ie we have 1 set pattern on a screen) we must use mulitple screens to represent the multiple colours or design aspects.
Below you can see a standard machine set up to print multiple colours-this is a standard machine ie non automated, and so is limited by its volume of production.
Still awesome if your just starting up-you can even do great stuff with 1 screen and patience!
Once the design has been printed on, it needs to dry before a new colour can be added.
Automated machines will often have this feature built in (At least to an extent) so that the 2nd colour can then be added.
Why choose screen printing?
Simply put, its generally easier to use than other techniques, hence why its been around for 104 years so far!
Its not just t shirts-or even clothes! You would be suprised at the amount of things that are screen printed in daily life! (Even your snowboard graphics!)
Screen printing is not just limited therefore to a garment limited sized process.
By introducing a roller, with the pattern attached, you can do huge lengths of material for perhaps curtains etc
Check out our upcoming articles for:
- How to make your Own Screen to print on, and
- Our favourite screen print examples and all that jazz
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