Screen printing is way of printing an image on to a piece of material using a mesh screen, dye and a stencil. It has developed a lot over the years to the point that we now have machines that help with the screen printing process. These machines help us to be more accurate and provide a high quality finish.
So how does screen printing work?
Well in its simplest form you would start the screen printing process with a stencil of the image that you want to print. You then tape your stencil to a wooden framed silk screen. Next, the fabric which is being printed on is laid on to a flat surface. The silk screen is then positioned in such a way that the stencil is exactly where you want the image to be printed. Ink is then “passed” across the stencil using a squeegee. Lastly the image is set using heat. You can build up your image by passing and setting different colours on top of each other.
What’s the history of screen printing?
Screen printing originated in China during the Song Dynasty. They made their screens by stretching hair across a wooden frame and their stencils were made from leaves. The Japanese later developed this technique and instead of hair they used silk to cover their screens and thus the term ‘silk screen printing’ was born. The first patent in regards to silk screen printing was applied for in the early 1900’s but it wasn’t until the First World War that this method was used on any great scale.
Famous screen print art
There are a number of really famous screen print pictures with the most definitive definitely being Warhol’s screen printed depiction of Marilyn Monroe. Other talented screen printers include Arthur Okamura and Rob Ryan whose work you can see below.
