
Screen printing is a popular printing process in which a stencil is used to transfer color ink onto a particular substrate, but in places made impure to the color ink by a solid blocking stencil. This kind of printing can be done on any type of surface that can accept an inkjet or laser printer.
Single color or multi-color can be printed on the same substrate. But the most commonly used are black and white prints on whiteboards, banners, and corporate documents. They are also used for counterfeit goods where colors have been intentionally marked to defraud the customer.
The basic technique of the screen-printing process involves spraying a stencil on the surface you wish to print, usually, the surface is glass, but nowadays it can also be metallic. The image is transferred by a light that passes through the top layer of glass or metal.
This causes the ink to be trapped in the surface, after the light is absorbed by the substrate material, the image is transferred into the print media. The image can also be printed on paper with a coated surface, called an ink roll, which has certain chemicals added to it to form a protective coating.
Different types of materials are used to make the stencils. These are either sold as ready-made items, or you can order them from the suppliers. The ready-to-use screen printers include standalone units, which can be plugged into mains, or plug into a battery, and some of the newer printers use a cartridge system, which needs recharging before using again.
Another common type of screen printing is serigraphy, which uses a machine-feed roller to apply the ink serigraphically. There are different advantages of using screen printing. It is cheaper than the other common methods of reproducing textiles, and it is easy to do if you have a computer and an inkjet printer.
The most popular technique for screen printing today is called dip-and-wash, where the textile is put on a piece of cloth, a pad is dipped into a container of warm water, and the cloth is laid over the textile.
A squeegee is then used to lift the cloth off the fabric, this is then dried in the sun, and a second cloth dipped into the warm water is placed on top, this is pressed down and pulled away from the textile, leaving the printed area on the outside of the fabric.
Palm tree images are produced by screen printing on vinyl, which is then hand-painted by professional artists. The vinyl is applied to a piece of a wooden frame that has leaves printed on it, and a squeegee is used to remove the excess paint from the frame. The final result looks like a palm tree.
Another popular technique used today is called woven mesh screen printing and is done on fabric. The fabric is laid on a frame with mesh screens imprinted with different shapes and designs. As the fabric is stretched over the mesh, it is pulled away from the frame, and the image or design that is being printed is then placed onto the exposed under layers of fabric.
Each of the designs or shapes is placed onto the fabric in a separate thin line, so when the fabric is pulled away from the frame, each design is displayed in its own line of cloth. The woven mesh technique is also referred to as “woven paper.”
A unique screen printing technique that was developed in the 1970s is called serigraphy, which utilizes a stencil pattern, rather than ink. This technique is similar to tracing, but an artist applies a stencil that is drawn onto the garment using a sewing machine.
If the stencil is created incorrectly, the garment can look distorted. This is why this type of printing is less expensive than most other techniques; because it does not require the artist to spend hours perfecting a design. Screen printing provides several advantages; the first being that it is a very cost-effective method of printing.
Using a stencil on the garment will eliminate the need for costly ink, and the uniformity of the images is another advantage. The uniformity of the images that are produced using this technique ensures that every individual garment will have the same look.
It also eliminates the issue of ink smudges on the garment, because the screen will catch all of the ink that is used in the printing process.