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.
