Screen Printing and Culture Influence

Screen Printing has always been affected by the culture and the era it prevailed in. The tools used to produce the prints were also affected by the culture and its available resources. For example, when this technique of printing was first used by the cave men, it was very simple and direct as was the surrounding environment then. It used simple tools such as the human hand which acted as a stencil, hollow bones or pieces of wood that acted as a pump to blow the color and natural pigments which were used to add the color needed to the paints. These tools were coming directly from the surrounding nature.

Another example is the application of the same technique of printing in the Song Dynasty in China which started in the tenth century and lasted till the thirteenth century. This dynasty came into ruling after a long period of chaos, where the Chinese suffered a lot in their everyday life. And printing at this stage was a vital progress as the citizens were in need for education and reading and the rulers were a group of elite leaders, and hence printing using wooden blocks was very welcomed and was helped to develop and continue as it facilitated the fast printing of books which were highly sought after at this era.

A third example is the spread of silk screening, as it was earlier called, in Asia and the deferred spread in Europe. Such spread is contributed to the fact that silk was produced in Asia and was part of its culture and hence it was used for the manufacturing of the screen fibers there. And again because silk was a rare fabric in Europe, Screen Printing did not become widely accepted till silk fibers were available in Europe. And then, silk screening as an industry started to develop and different patents were issued, each trying to enhance its techniques, tools and methods.

As a matter of fact, Screen Printing has also played important role in different cultures and civilizations that were affected by this technique. It is believed that different ancient civilizations such as the Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilization have used different forms of it to reproduce their paintings and designs, especially those used for decoration.

Such techniques were also used all around the world. And depending on the culture they spread in, different applications evolved. For example, it was used for painting fabrics in some cultures to distinguish people belonging to the upper class or performing a specific role in their society. In other cultures, these techniques were used to produce religious images in big numbers. And finally, with the modernization and the understanding of the importance of advertising and marketing, these techniques were widely used for advertisement and printed commercials. Some even were used for artistic purposes and some played an important role in the textile and clothing industries.

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History of T-Shirt Printing

Who thought to print onto t-shirts? Well it all began in 1700 where it was introduced to Western Europe from Asia as 'Screen Printing'. It became largely recognised when silk mesh was available and this is why the term 'Silk Screen Printing' is used these days.

Samuel Simon was responsible for the patency of 'Screen Printing' in 1907. Clothing wasn't the first product the process was used to print onto it was actually invented to produce expensive wallpaper for the wealthy and was printed on many types of fabric, silk and linen were the most popular types. The newly mastered techniques weren't produced by many they were kept under strict secrecy and the workshops were very hard to come across.

By 1910 the printers started to experiment with different types of chemicals, as photography had become a well established technique they started to adapt these techniques to produce their silk screens. It was three gentlemen called Roy Beck, Charles Peter and Edward Owens who actually invented the first photo-Imaged stencil, this was a combination of chromic acid salts which produced the emulsion and this was the beginning for large format silk screen printing.

Combining Roy Beck, Charles Peter and Edward Owens discovery with Joseph Ulanos lacquer soluble stencil, they had a solid base to make screens which could then be made into stencils. The solution applied to the screens would dry this could then be cut into shapes leaving the 'silk screen' which the ink was passed through producing your printed clothing or wallpaper.

Now they had invented the technique the question was what other types of materials could the technique be used on? Artists where the ones who used screen printing the most and where it became main stream, they produced posters, Books, Newspapers and Clothing.

1960's was when it became a famous technique, Andy Warhol started using traditional techniques and adapting them to produce his pieces of art with one of his most famous one being the portrait of 'Marilyn Monroe'.

These techniques were produced on a single screen and it wasn't until 1967 when inventor 'Michael Vasilantone' came up with the multiple printing carousel. From this date screen printing had revolutionised and you could now print multi coloured design onto textiles.

Here after 'silk screen printing' was looked at differently and you could now print onto most types of textiles or clothing with the most fashionable one being t shirts. T Shirt Printing is used within the fashion Industry, Promotional Industry and is a well known technique all over the world. There is always new techniques being invented, the old ways of CMYK or 4 colour process has become dated as full colour simulated process or 12 colours has become the default technique used by most professional screen printers.

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Ceramic Transfers Made Easy

How would you like to personalize and dress up those drab ceramic plates, cups, and saucers? It's not only possible, it's much easier than you might think. Handcrafting guru Heather has posted this excellent tutorial on doing your own ceramic transfers.

The first thing you'll need of course, are the ceramic pieces. Next, a screen printer will be able to put your graphics on transfer paper for you. The key here is using the right vitrifying ink. Then just cut them out, soak them to remove the backing, and arrange them on the ceramic pieces.

Finally, the pieces just need to be glazed and cooked in the kiln. Pottery studios are readily available in most places for crafty folks and even for children's parties. But can you eat off them, you ask? Certainly you can! What a great idea for a birthday or anniversary.

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Printing Transfers

Problems To Avoid When Color Printing

Problems do occur when you're color printing; and the effect is always on the total cost you are going to pay once your marketing materials such as your poster printing is delivered to you. But most of the problems can be avoided even before you have your print posters for example reproduced by your color printer. One way to do it is to communicate well with your color printer your specifications.

Indeed, many problems arise from poor communication between you and your color printer. The way you explain and describe your job order and how much the color printer quoted it is always the culprit. Many of the problems are actually avoidable if only you and your color printer are on the same wavelength. What I mean by this is that no problem would arise if both of you are speaking the same language.

You have to understand that you and your color printer actually speak different. What you want done is not the same as how they are going to do it. Unless both of you understand each other fully, you will never get the results you desire from the price you are willing to pay.

One of the most common mistakes is to take for granted the meaning of one (1) sheet of paper. One sheet is not equal to one page in printing talk. Printers do not run individual sheets of paper. Rather they run it numbers divisible by 4. So if you need a booklet for example, you have to ask for a quote on either 52 or 56 pages because it would be easier for them to divide it into 4. The correct way of asking for a quote on a booklet is to ask for a 28-page saddle stitched material. This would mean 56 pages of booklet stapled (saddle-stitched) in the middle.

Another mistake is in the description of the size of the material. Let's take the booklet as an example again. The standard sizes are 5.5 by 8.5 and 8.5 by 11. More or less than that and the printer would have a hard time giving you an exact quote. And don't forget to remember that the size of your print order would be the one AFTER you trimmed it.

Next mistake is to describe the paper or stock used. You have to realize that the quote would depend on the type of paper stock you are going to use, as well as the frequency you are going to use it. If it's the booklet again, you would probably have a different stock of the cover from that of the inside pages. For a poster printing order, it's easier because you will have one paper stock throughout your project. But you still have to specify because the kind of stock you're going to use would reflect the type of image you would want to have as a business.

One other big mistake is to submit the wrong file. Printers do have a specific file they require to get you the exact material for your results. The wrong file will definitely cost you more time, effort and money. You wouldn't want to have your printer print your file again because it would cost you double. And you would also not want to pay for something that you're not satisfied with.

Mistakes when color printing can actually be avoided if you communicate well with your printer what you want. The more your printer knows your requirements, the bigger the chances that you'll get the results you desire.

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Ceramic Decals: How Are They Made?

Screen-printing is an ancient method of printing invented in China during the Song Dynasty (960""1279 AD). This method of printing called silk-screening, because the mesh used to press the ink through was made of silk. Silk-screen printing invented in China used primarily to print on cloth, such as silk, cotton, and other fabrics.

Then approximately 1750 Simon Francois Ravenet who emigrated from France to England, before Simon immigrated he had been seeking a way to decorate ceramic designs using screen-printing. In England, Simon perfected a process of transferring artistic images to decorate ceramic pieces.

Simon Ravenet augmented screen-print as a direct printing method and created a non-direct form of printing using a new transfer system. This new transfer system used a medium constructed from a paper that was water-resistant that had previously been printed with a water-soluble adhesive.

Simon Ravenet printed the artistic design onto the water-resistant paper on top of the water-soluble adhesive and printed a clear ink over the design. The finished decalcomania then is immersed in water, the adhesive releases from the water-resistant paper leaving a decalcomania sandwiched between the water-soluble adhesive and the final clear coat of ink on the surface of the decalcomanias printed image. Applying the decalcomania to the surface of the ceramic piece, he wanted to decorate; the adhesive would allow it to adhere to the surface of the ceramic.

Simon Ravenet called this new transfer system a decalcomania. This new technology imported to the United States in Circa 1865. Then this process popularized in the United States, during the ceramic decorating craze of the mid-1870s. In the United States, the word decalcomania abbreviated to the version we use today decal.

Simon Ravenet had inadvertently invented water-slide off decals except it would be many decades before this new printing system would be use to print decals for promotions and product branding. Simon Francois Ravenet transfer system is different from the water-slide off decals we use today. The difference is in the types of inks Simon"s system employed were ceramic inks.

Ceramic inks are employed to produce ceramic water-transfer decals. The ceramic inks are manufactured by milling the ceramic particles into the ink. The ceramic particle during the milling process becomes infused with the ink. This ink is no longer common ink it is now ceramic ink.

When the ceramic transfer decal is applied to the ceramic piece then the ceramic piece is fired in a kiln the decal transfer becomes a part of the ceramic. Before this new transfer invention all pottery, earthenware, ceramic, and glass were decorated by hand painting a ceramic paint directly on the piece. The same process used to cause the ceramic particles infused in the paint, so when the pottery placed in a kiln to fired the pottery the paint or ink literally became one with the pottery.

The question; is this style of printing used today? Yes, fine china, every day dinnerware, mugs, drinking glasses, as well as industrial products employ ceramic decals. The industrial uses such as; laboratory test tubes, toilet and lavatory fixtures are decorated this way, too.

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Glass Transfers

Silk Screen Printing

Legendary references point out to the fact that silk was discovered in Asia. In Silkscreen printing, screens were originally made of a piece of absorbent fine silk. Silkscreen printing originated from simple Japanese stenciling art forms. The modern Silkscreen process has evolved from ideas adopted by John Pilsworth in 1914 in San Francisco, California. This is known to be the first reference material on how to use a Silkscreen to form multicolor prints. It is a source of information that is applied even today.

Screen printing, also known as Silkscreening or serigraphy, is a printing method that usually creates a sharp edged single color mage using a stencil and a porous fabric. An image created using this technique is called a screen-print or serigraph. In electrical terms, silkscreen refers to the writing on a printed circuit board. This method maybe used in etching copper wiring on a circuit board.

This technology gained its popularity from the "Pop Art Movement" of the 1960s. At present, this method is increasingly being used in fine arts and small-scale commercial printing. Silkscreening gained popularity during the First World War. The industry flourished in response to the increasing demand for printing flags and banners. Consequently, the use of graphic stencils also increased.

There are several ways to create a pattern for screen printing. The simplest way to create a silkscreen pattern is by hand. One can acquire a desired shape by cutting a piece of paper or plastic film and fasten it to the screen or by creating an illustration on the screen itself. A more artistic method involves painting a picture with drawing paint. After it dries, it is coated with screen filler. This is again dried and then, water is squirted on it. This washes away all the material leaving behind a stencil spray. This method permits the artist to stay true to the portrayal technique and yet create multiples.

Silkscreen printing is most commonly used for t-shirts, garments and other fabrics. It is also used on ceramic objects, metal, wood, paper, glass, and synthetic items. This technique is essential and ideal to represent bold and graphic designs. Today screen printing is more flexible than conventional printing techniques and is being increasingly used in a wide variety of industries.

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Cape Town Printing Transfers

Promotional Mugs - Different Printing For Different Mugs - Learn Here About Them Before You Design

Designers are great! They come up with all sorts of ideas for promoting companies that would look fantastic if they were possible. If you are in charge of designing a promotional mug for your company or your client, then pay attention to this article. It could save you a lot of time and embarrassment and even give you a few ideas for making your design look the best it can on a mug. Here you will learn about three very popular printing techniques along with their strengths and weaknesses.

Screen Printing: This is by far the oldest method of personalizing corporate mugs. The mugs are printed and then fire cured to so that your advertisement stays on your mugs. If you were to take a key to a freshly printed mug, the ink would scratch off very easily. Once the mug is cured, the ink is permanent. You can then take your key and scratch at your logo as long as you like. If will not scratch and it will not come off. Screen printing is not perfect, however. It takes a very professional printer to match the Pantone colours in your logo, for example. The ink changes colour when it is put in the kiln so it really takes experience and a little guess work to match the print colours to your pantone colours.

Another drawback of screen printing is that you are limited to ceramic inks. These are quite basic colors. You will not be able to achieve bright colors on dark mugs. You will also not get a bright pink or a fluorescent green screen printed onto a ceramic mug. The heat of curing would make it a dull color that bares little resemblance to the color your want. Fluorescent colors are best printed using dye-sub printing. You may also have heard dye-sub mugs referred to as photo mugs.

Dye-Sublimation Photo Mugs: Photo mugs are a brilliant invention. With dye-sublimation printing you can get the vibrant yellows and eye-squinting oranges. You can print bright colors onto dark backgrounds. You can even print in full color all the way around the surface of the mugs. Wow! Do you think these are the mugs for you? Well, unfortunately, they to have their negatives. Firstly, dye-sublimation printing can only be achieved on straight sided mugs such as Durham Mugs, Cambridge Mugs and a few new coffee mug styles such as the Deco Mug. If you want a curvy sided mug, you will need to choose a different printing method such as screen printing and or digital transfer printing. You will also not be able to print inside the mug as this involves digital transfers that need to be cured onto the mug at a much higher temperature than dye-sub mugs can withstand.

Digital Transfer Printing: Digital printing is not done as often as it used to be. It was the predecessor to photo mug printing and it is more expensive. That said, there are certain things that can only be done with digital transfer printing, With transfer printing, you can print inside the mugs or along the handle making your promotional mugs really stand out. Transfer printing does take a long time, however, so if you are in a hurry, you can forget it. Each transfer print needs to be carefully applied by hand. You could actually screen print about twenty mugs in the same time it take to apply a transfer.

Choosing the right print method for what you are trying to achieve can really make your promotion a success.

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Printing Transfers

Top 5 Benefits of Screen Printing

All of us are now aware of screen printing. It is a method where ink which is used for printing is passed through either a fabric or a netted/webbed surface. This is extended into a frame. A design stencil is used and with the aid of the squeegee, it is possible to transfer the colors into the stencil portions which are unblocked. This is a widely used method in the production of clothes like shirts and other garments.

With the latest fashion trends, many businesses are getting worried and anxious when it comes to using screen printing, the reason being for every color which needs to be incorporated on the garment, a separate screen needs to be used. There would be an increase in the production cost, thereby increasing the price of the end product. It is also not a wise decision to reduce the production quantity, as it would not be an economical proposition.

In spite of the above disadvantages, screen printing has top 5 benefits too which are worth mentioning:

1) Economical: When it comes to creating many copies - When you have to make copies in a wholesale quantity, screen printing is the right option. A simple example is tarpaulins for putting in your locality. The same panels are going to used again and again if you are going to make many copies. It is an economical way and works out cheaper. Cost recovery becomes easier and you would end up making good profits.

2) Quicker process - Screen printing is a quick process as compared to other methods of advertising. When your advertisement is viewed by millions of prospective customers, it would definitely convert some of these prospects into your clients. The process of screen printing is simple and hassle free. The only requisites are the screen panels and the requisite materials. With these, you can kick start your business. The colors dry quickly and you could start showing the ads to the targeted audience.

3) Larger Designs - When it comes to larger designs, screen printing is the ideal choice. You can choose to be more creative and resourceful when it comes to selecting the screen panel's size. It is possible to make larger counterparts of the design, without any distortion to the texts and images. When it comes to digital printing, it is not very easy to make adjustments.

4) Wide range of utility - Screen printing can be used effectively for a variety of things. Screen printing is used for printing designs on clothes, fabrics and garments. It also caters to printing on product labels, printing of circuit boards, adding different designs to balloons etc.

5) Sturdy and Tough - Screen prints are tough and sturdy. In spite of exposing the screen printed fabrics to harsh conditions, the colors do not appear weary and dull. It would take quite some time for the colors and texts to become dull and unclear.

The colors used in screen printing are also environment friendly as compared to plastic inks. The colors are attractive and vivacious.

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