Nicole_Screen Printing Process Facts

I’m quite familiar with the printing process of screen printing, also known as silk screening. I work in a warehouse that specializes in screen printing on a variety of different materials. I also went to a technical high school where I initially started learning about this process. The process itself isn’t very different than other processes, however the setup and materials are completely different. 

Interesting Facts about Screen Printing:

• Screen printing became a popular technique during the Song Dynasty in 960-1300 A.D.
• Screen printing is often used to print messages or logos on materials (mostly anything but paper) and is considered to be lower quality than most other printing processes (although there can be high quality depending on the material and number of colors.
• The process is broken up into sections that can vary from business to business: exposing the stencils on the specific screen mesh, aligning and inking up each screen, printing, and reclaiming the screen which is technically getting it back to the beginning again.
• In screen printing, every color is put on a different screen, therefore the ink is layered onto the  desired material once the design is aligned. 
• There are different types of screen mesh (mesh is the number of openings per square inch) where the more detailed the work is and depending on the viscosity of the ink, the higher the screen mesh count can be.
• There are two different processes to this type of printing. You can print on an automatic press where it does everything besides lining the design up for you, or you can use a manual press where you do everything from start to finish on your own.

Here is a link to a video that really shows you the screen printing process on a manual press:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNWS6DrDOEM