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Screen Printing that applicated in business printing industry now widely developed in variety of printing machines models. Screen printing process was not complicated steps. Screen Printing is a mechanical, digitally, computerized and support by more screen printing equipments. Many online digital screen printing companies provide full services: starting from design clothing, screen printing film, screen printing paper, low cost printing advisory to final printing products.
Originally a profitable industrial technology, screen printing was eventually adopted by artists as an expressive and conveniently repeatable medium for duplication well before the 1900s. It is currently popular both in fine arts and in commercial printing, where it is commonly used to print images on T-shirts, hats, CDs, DVDs, ceramics, glass, polyethylene, polypropylene, paper, metals, and wood. A group of artist who later formed the National Serigraphic Society coined the word Serigraphy in the 1930's to differentiate the artistic application of screen printing from the industrial use of the process. "Serigraphy" is a combination word from the Latin word "Seri" (silk) and the Greek word "graphein" (to write or draw).
There is considerable taxonomic, etymological and semantic confusion about this process, industry, and techniques known as Screen Printing, Screen-printing, Screenprinting, silkscreen, and serigraphy. Much of the current confusion is based on the popular traditional reference to the process of screen printing as silkscreen printing .
Almost no professional printing businesses, artists, or trade organizations use references to silk because of the general abandonment of silk as a viable mesh material after the 1960's.
Encyclopedia references, dictionaries and trade publications also use an array of spellings for this process with the two most often encountered english spellings as, screenprinting spelled as a single undivided word, and the more popular two word title of screen printing without hyphenation.
Screen Printing Process Defined
Screen Printing, Screenprinting, silkscreening, or serigraphy is a printmaking technique that uses a woven mesh to support a screen printing ink blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil forcing or pumping ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas. A screenprint or serigraph is an image created using this technique.
Joseph Ulano founded the industry chemical supplier Ulano and in 1928 created a method of applying a lacquer soluble stencil material to a removable base. This stencil material was cut into shapes, the print areas removed and the remaining material adhered to mesh to create a sharp edged screen stencil.
The Printer's National Environmental Assistance Center says "Screenprinting is arguably the most versatile of all printing processes. Since rudimentary screenprinting materials are so affordable and readily available, it has been used frequently in underground settings and subcultures, and the non-professional look of such DIY culture screenprints have become a significant cultural aesthetic seen on movie posters, record album covers, flyers, shirts, commercial fonts in advertising, and elsewhere.
SCREEN PRINTING EQUIPMENTS ( INKS )
Plastisol the most screen printing inks common plastisol based print used in garment decoration. Good color opacity onto dark garments and clear graphic detail with, as the name suggests, a more plasticized texture. This print can be made softer with special additives or heavier by adding extra layers of screen printing ink. Most plastisol inks require heat (approx. 300 degrees fahrenheit for many screen printing inks) to cure the print.
Water-Based inks these penetrate the fabric more than the plastisol inks and create a much softer feel. Ideal for printing darker inks onto lighter colored garments. Also useful for larger area prints where texture is important.
PVC/ Phalate Free relatively new breed of ink and printing with the benefits of plastisol but without the two main toxic components - soft feeling print.
Discharge inks used to print lighter colours onto dark background fabrics, they work by removing the dye in the garment – this means they leave a much softer texture. They are less graphic in nature than plastisol inks, and exact colours are difficult to control, but especially good for distressed and vintage prints.
Foil consists of a glue printed onto the fabric and then foil is applied for a mirror finish.
Glitter/Shimmer silver flakes are suspended in a plastisol ink to create this sparkle effect. Usually available in gold or silver but can be mixed to make most colours.
Metallic similar to glitter, but smaller particles suspended in the ink. A glue is printed onto the fabric then a nanoscale fibers applied on it.
Expanding ink (puff) an additive to plastisol inks which raises the print off the garment, creating a 3D feel.
Caviar beads again a glue is printed in the shape of the design, to which small plastic beads are then applied – works well with solid block areas creating an interesting tactile surface.
Four color process artwork is created using dots (CMYK) which combine to create the full spectrum of colours needed for photographic prints – this means a large number of colors can be printed using only 4 screens, making the set-up costs viable. The inks are required to blend and are more translucent, meaning a compromise with vibrancy of color.
Gloss a clear base laid over plastisol inks to create a shiny finish.
Nylobond a special ink additive for printing onto technical or waterproof fabrics.
Mirrored silver Another solvent based ink but you can almost see your face in it.
Suede Ink Suede is another great ink that is easy to print and gives the image a textured leather, simulated suede look and feel. Suede is a milky colored additive (much like a plastisol base) that will work in a regular plastisol. It is actually a puff blowing agent that does not bubble as much as regular puff ink. With suede additive you can make any color of plastisol have a suede feel. The directions vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but generally you can add up to 50% suede additive to your normal plastisol.
Print Gocco Print Gocco is a Japanese commercially-produced home screenprinting system. Masters are created with the use of flashbulbs to burn an image into the screen. Over one-third of Japanese households own a Print Gocco system.
Screen Printing Technique
A screen is made of a piece of porous, finely woven fabric called mesh stretched over a frame of aluminum or wood. Originally human hair then silk was woven into screen mesh, currently most mesh is made of man made materials such as steel, nylon, and polyester. Areas of the screen are blocked off with a non-permeable material to form a stencil, which is a negative of the image to be printed; that is, the open spaces are where the ink will appear.The screen is placed atop a substrate such as papyrus or fabric (screen printing paper). Ink is placed on top of the screen, and a fill bar (also known as a floodbar) is used to fill the mesh openings with ink.
The operator begins with the fill bar at the rear of the screen and behind a reservoir of ink. The operator lifts the screen to prevent contact with the substrate and then using a slight amount of downward force pulls the fill bar to the front of the screen. This effectively fills the mesh openings with ink and moves the ink reservoir to the front of the screen. The operator then uses a squeegee (rubber blade) to move the mesh down to the substrate and pushes the squeegee to the rear of the screen.
The ink that is in the mesh opening is pumped or squeezed by capillary action to the substrate in a controlled and prescribed amount, i.e. the wet ink deposit is equal to the thickness of the mesh and or stencil. As the squeegee moves toward the rear of the screen the tension of the mesh pulls the mesh up away from the substrate (called snap-off) leaving the ink upon the substrate surface.
Versatility
Screenprinting is more versatile than traditional printing techniques. The surface does not have to be printed under pressure, unlike etching or lithography, and it does not have to be planar. Screenprinting inks can be used to work with a variety of materials, such as textiles, ceramics, wood, paper, glass, metal, and plastic. As a result, screen printing is used in many different industries, from clothing to product labels to circuit board printing.
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