Silk Screen Supplies

It could be argued that silk screen supplies are only purchased and used by artists who wish to wish to undertake silk screen printing.  It could also be argued that most of us have, at one time or another, purchased or used silk screen printing supplies, even if we’ve never done screen printing.  Oddly enough, both arguments would be correct.  To understand how that can be, we must first understand exactly what silk screen printing is.
Silk screening uses a set of porous fabric screens, placed tightly over a cloth or paper or other item to be screen printed, to lay down a pattern in a certain color.  The screen is first “masked” or blocked by some emulsion or other blocking technique in a negative of the pattern to be applied.  The coloring agent is then broadly applied to the screen, with a squeegee for example, and is absorbed through the screen onto the poster or item to be colored only where the screen isn’t blocked.  The screen is removed and a different screen is applied, using a subsequent color in a subsequent pattern.  This process is repeated as many times as necessary and each application lays down an additional portion of the overall design with a different color and a different pattern.  Each screen applies its color in the amount and space it will occupy in the finished print and each subsequent screening of additional colors and patterns alters some of the color that preceded it.  In this way the basic primary colors are used to create secondary colors, pastels and hues.  It is all dependent upon the color and the intensity of the screening.  The first material used for the porous screen in this process was silk, and that is why the procedure to this day is known as silk screening.  In fact, very few artists today use silk as the medium for their screens.  Most modern silk screening is done with nylon screens.
That sounds like a pretty specialized way of printing a poster, or canvas, or shirt – and it is.  But if you think about it, it is exactly the same process that a color inkjet printer uses on your home computer system.  It first lays down the pattern in one of the three primary colors, then another, then another, finally following up with black.  The end result is a complex color image that can be as simple as a color line drawing or as complex as a photograph or painting.  So, in a way, a color inkjet printer can be thought of as a piece of screen printing equipment.  The computer’s printer file provides an electronic “masking” of the image to be laid down, so the screen is virtual.  In this sense, every time you replace your color inkjet printer cartridges you have purchased and replaced silk screening supplies.

It could be argued that silk screen supplies are only purchased and used by artists who wish to wish to undertake silk screen printing.  It could also be argued that most of us have, at one time or another, purchased or used silk screen printing supplies, even if we’ve never done screen printing.  Oddly enough, both arguments would be correct.  To understand how that can be, we must first understand exactly what silk screen printing is.

Silk screening uses a set of porous fabric screens, placed tightly over a cloth or paper or other item to be screen printed, to lay down a pattern in a certain color.  The screen is first “masked” or blocked by some emulsion or other blocking technique in a negative of the pattern to be applied.  The coloring agent is then broadly applied to the screen, with a squeegee for example, and is absorbed through the screen onto the poster or item to be colored only where the screen isn’t blocked.  The screen is removed and a different screen is applied, using a subsequent color in a subsequent pattern.  This process is repeated as many times as necessary and each application lays down an additional portion of the overall design with a different color and a different pattern.  Each screen applies its color in the amount and space it will occupy in the finished print and each subsequent screening of additional colors and patterns alters some of the color that preceded it.  In this way the basic primary colors are used to create secondary colors, pastels and hues.  It is all dependent upon the color and the intensity of the screening.  The first material used for the porous screen in this process was silk, and that is why the procedure to this day is known as silk screening.  In fact, very few artists today use silk as the medium for their screens.  Most modern silk screening is done with nylon screens.

That sounds like a pretty specialized way of printing a poster, or canvas, or shirt – and it is.  But if you think about it, it is exactly the same process that a color inkjet printer uses on your home computer system.  It first lays down the pattern in one of the three primary colors, then another, then another, finally following up with black.  The end result is a complex color image that can be as simple as a color line drawing or as complex as a photograph or painting.  So, in a way, a color inkjet printer can be thought of as a piece of screen printing equipment.  The computer’s printer file provides an electronic “masking” of the image to be laid down, so the screen is virtual.  In this sense, every time you replace your color inkjet printer cartridges you have purchased and replaced silk screening supplies.

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