Screen Printing – A 1,000-Yr Former Art Form

Screen press has been effectually for a long fourth dimension. Over 1,000 years in fact! In our three-part blog series, we are going to take an in-depth expect at the history of screen press, to better learn more about where the procedure originated and how it got to where it is today.

About of usa have drawers and closets full of screen printed t-shirts!

Screen printing is a method used to decorate t-shirts and other garments that tin advertise a business organization, unify employees or students, promote a club or group. It can convey a message, preserve a memory, confess the love for something, announce you ran in a clemency outcome, or showcase your favorite band – really, just about anything you lot dream virtually can be screen printed onto a shirt.

While nosotros might take plenty of screen printed t-shirts in our dresser drawers, how many of the states can explain what screen press is and how it works?

Writer's note: Since it is the most recognizable garment to be screen printed we volition be referring to screen printed t-shirts throughout this blog. Although, in add-on to t-shirts, screen press is quite pop for embellishing various garments such as hats, hoodies, jackets, sweatshirts, glassware and more.

The Early on History of Screen Printing

Screen printing, besides called silk screen printing, is a singled-out printing technique where ink is transferred onto a substrate (e.g., a t-shirt) using mesh and a duster. It'southward considered a method of stenciling every bit information technology is produced by imposing the pattern on a screen with blank areas of the blueprint coated with a substance the ink cannot laissez passer through. Then, the printer forces the ink through mesh openings with a duster and transfers the design onto the print surface.

Many presume that because this blueprint technique is and so prevalent today, it must exist gimmicky. However, screen printing originated in the Song Dynasty in China between 960 and 1279 CE. The Song Dynasty – credited with being the first nation to consequence paper money – stands as an era that witnessed advancements in painting and other forms of artistic expression.

The Chinese were known to stretch human pilus across a wooden frame to serve as the mesh screen for printing. For stencils, they used leaves. Years after, the Japanese modified the practice, using silk as the screen, thus the term "silk screening."

Fun fact: Screen printing developed after its antecedent, stenciling. Roughly 40,000 years ago, early humans created paw stencils that cover the walls of European caves.

Screen printing finally striking Western Europe in the 18th century only didn't catch on right abroad since it was hard to notice silk mesh at the time. As such, the method was used mostly to decorate clothing, walls and other objects.

One (or More than) Behemothic Leap(s) For Screen Press

The side by side big jump would come in the early 20th century when Englishman Samuel Simon patented the screen printing process. His patent referred to the utilise of a silk screen, which guaranteed a higher tensile forcefulness and meliorate size stability. He also used rubber blades, or squeegees, to push the ink through the screen, a tool that is still used today. Initially, Simon's method was employed to impress high-quality custom wallpaper or to impress on silk or linen material, more suited to the period'southward affluent folks.

Several years afterward, screen press would undergo further adjustments every bit printers began experimenting with photograph-reactive chemicals that reacted to light and combined them with gelatin to create a more defined wait to their applications.

It was in this period that artists coined the word "serigraphy," derived from the Latin word seri (silk) and the Greek word graphein (to write) to depict the medium to distinguish it from commercial screen printing.

In the 1930s, the National Serigraphic Society was formed to assist signify this deviation between screen printing in industrial applications and screen printing as art. An American creative person, Guy Maccoy was credited with creating the commencement original work of fine art using screen printing every bit a legitimate format rather than just using it for reproductions.

During the New Deal era, the WPA helped create thousands of silk-screened posters depicting different areas of the country, enticing people to visit various states, national parks, and other landmarks. They also displayed public health messages, federal programs, as well as theater and musical performances.

Fun fact: The first promotional t-shirt was printed for the moving picture "The Wizard of Oz." The shirts were distributed in 1939 and featured a uncomplicated design with the name of the film and the iconic text font.

Screen Printing as Propaganda

The use of screen printing grew during the 2d Earth War for the common do of wartime propaganda and continued as a pop form of print and media once the war ended.

However, well-nigh every screen printing technique was kept confidential and protected equally a "trade secret" for much of the twentieth century. Information technology wasn't until the early 1960s that the technologies would come into the public'south center.

Virtually persons in the industry now credit Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol for bringing screen press into the mainstream with his famous screen printed depiction of Marilyn Monroe in 1962. Ironically, in the aforementioned year, the National Serigraphic Lodge closed its doors due to a lack of involvement.

But there was still some other major upshot that had to be addressed before screen printing would experience a "smash": the screen printing process was too dull to implement on a mass scale.

Now that yous are intrigued by Function 1, proceed reading Function two | Screen Printing – Mod Era History!

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