Screen printing

Screen printing (also known as silk screen printing) is a technique in which ink is forced onto a substrate through a stencil made of a fine mesh.

As a printing technique, screen printing emerged in China around 950 AD and was later adopted by Japanese artisans as a way to print designs onto fabric and paper.

Screen printing arrived in Europe in the 18th century, but only turned popular when silk mesh became cheaper as a result of trade intensification. Initially conceived as a handcraft process, screen printing became more mechanized in the 20th century, ending up being a mass production printing technique. Nowadays, screen printing is characterized by its sophistication and the use of computer technology.

The screen printing process involves several steps. The first consists in printing a design over a screen mesh using UV light. Once the design has been printed, the screen mesh is placed over the surface that needs to be printed. Ink is then poured over the mesh and applied over the design using a squeegee. The area covered by the design lets the ink through the mesh, resulting in the surface being printed.

Screen printing is a process that can be performed manually by acquiring the necessary tools in a local store. However, it can also be automated by using computer technology and the appropriate printing machines.

Screen printing has several advantages, including the following:

• It’s a fast printing process: once the design has been printed over the screen mesh, the rest of the printing process happens very fast and can be fully automated.
• It works with a wide range of inks: screen printing is compatible with a great variety of inks, something that not all printing methods can say.
• It’s a great printing process for bulk orders: if the same design has to be printed on multiple packages or products, screen printing becomes cheaper the more items need to be printed.
• It provides high quality and long lasting printing results: screen printing provides consistent printing designs with a strong and lasting colour fastness.

Screen printing can be used to print labels over packages or products. In fact, screen printing is a widely used technique to print labels over clothing, but also to print bottle labels or decorative labels.