You have to go back to around 960 A.D. in China to find the genesis of the first versions of screen printing, also known as silkscreen printing. Then, following in the footsteps of their neighbor, the Japanese began using simple stenciling techniques to create imagery. The stencils were cut out of paper and the mesh was actually woven from human hair. Stiff brushes were used to force ink through the mesh onto the fabric.
Moving ahead in time, it was in the 17th century when silk screens were being used in France as a way of printing onto fabric. Stiff brushes were still being used to push ink through the mesh. It was here that the practice of stretching silk over a frame to support stencils was initiated.
In the early part of the 20th century, squeegees were introduced as a way of pulling ink through the screen mesh. The use of squeegees was a significant advancement in the screen printing process. They flood the screen, push or pull the ink, and help transfer the design from stencil to garment in a much timelier fashion than with the use of brushes.
New York, 1938 — a group of artists began experimenting with screen printing as an artistic medium to put onto paper.
They coined the term serigraphy, which is a combination of Latin (seri, meaning silk) and Greek (graphos, meaning to write).
In the 1960s, pop artist icons like Andy Warhol used screen printing as an integral element of their art forms, establishing the method and popularizing it as a medium for creating contemporary art.
Today, screen printing for custom t-shirts continues to be the most common technique, claiming the title of the most traditional, while being contemporary as well.
Some Pros of T-Shirt Screen Printing:
While it does take time to prepare t shirts for printing, the pros are plentiful. Among them are:
• The screen printing technique produces bold, rich colors.
• T-shirt printing is dominant over other methods in terms of cumulative speed and efficiency. Once the screen has been made, the printing process is actually quicker than alternative print procedures.
• Images on screen printed t shirts last very long. Because of the density of the inks used, screen printed shirts have been known to maintain their vibrancy for years.
• The same amount of setup is required for one t-shirt as it is for 1,000 of them, so it’s ideal for bulk orders.
The t-shirt screen printing technique is one of the most widely popular, established methods used by print shops, especially when it comes to larger orders. Screen printing is a versatile and effective printing method that produces shirts with hard-to-match quality, rich-colored imagery, and unparalleled durability. There is plenty to rave about with the screen printing technique. It’s the longest-standing form of print, and it continues going strong today. Remember how we began this article with how the Chinese opened the door to silkscreen printing 1,060 years ago? If that’s not history enough for you, let’s get in our proverbial time machine and head back about 250 million years ago.
That’s when the first “modern” spiders began spinning silk from the end of their abdomens. They have sustained life for a quarter of a billion years eating the prey they have captured with their silk webs. Think they were onto something?
