Screen Printing
Screen printing is a printing process that makes use of a woven mesh to hold an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil outlines the open areas of the mesh that transfer ink in the form of a sharp-edged image on the surface that is to be printed and this surface is called substrate. On the screen stencil, a squeegee or roller moves and pumps the ink on the open areas that are to be printed with that particular color.
Silk screening or serigraphy also involves screen printing. In this, the stencil method of the print making imposes a design on the screen of silk or any other fine mesh and the empty areas are covered with an impermeable substance while the ink is put on the printing surface through the mesh. The silk printing was the traditional method but now it has been replaced with the polyester for screen painting.
The screen printing first appeared in China during the rule of Song dynasty. The Asian countries started using the screen printing process in thirteenth century and advanced it further by combining the screen painting with block printing and paints. In late 1700s, the Europe started using the screen printing process but it gained wider acceptance much later as the silk was not available in the Europe at that time.
In the United States, the screen printing was popularized by artist Andy Warhol, he screen printed actress Marilyn Monroe in 1962. A rotary machine was patented by Michael Vasilantone in 1960 to print logos and team information on bowling garments but shortly, started printing on t-shirts. It was soon licensed by many manufactures for screen printing of garments making the rotary garment printing machine as a popular device for screen printing. In the United States, screen printing on garments account for almost half of the screen printing activity.
The printing on the canvas with the help of the screen-printing also became popular with the artists. Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and many other artists have made use of screen-printing on the canvas. The commercial as well as the fine arts industry is using this screen printing industry to increase their profits and they use it to make prints on the CD and DVD covers, t-shirts, hats and also on the metals and many more things.
Screen printing is used extensively in the printing industry to mass create so many items specifically tshirts. It is excellent for both short and long-run printing. For large volumes the process can be set up on a printing drum but for small runs a simple manual setup can be used.
The Corporate have well utilized this option and have started giving their employees and clients corporate gifts that are screen printed with different ideas and also corporate logos. This is a good way in which the corporate can increase their presence. The Corporate gifts are usually given once or twice to the employees. The screen printed corporate gifts are like t-shirts made in different sizes and styles keeping in mind the different employees. The corporate gifts can also be in form of mugs, beer and wine glasses, and many corporate give their best employees fully paid vacations.
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