The silk-screen method is used in art, advertising and manufacturing.
Artisans and hobbyists employ the silk-screen method to make prints for canvases, clothing and other decorative uses. The term silk-screen is somewhat of a misnomer, as the screens used in the printmaking process are not always made from silk, as was the norm when the process first gained popularity. Now, more often than not, screens used in printmaking are manufactured from polyester.
Method
The most basic silk-screen method requires only a few tools: a stencil braced by a mesh screen, ink, a roller and the object intended for printing. Colored or black ink is impressed forcefully onto the stencil and screen; parts of the picture are blocked out so that the final image resembles the stencil. If more than one color is needed for the printed image, additional screens must be used.
Early History
While the history of stencils is ancient, dating back to repetitive images of the outlines of hands decorating cave walls, historians trace the origins of the silk-screen method to 17th century Japan. The silk-screen method was most frequently employed to create elaborate patterns on fabric; when Japanese isolation ended in the mid-19th century, screen printed Japanese fabrics received wide attention, and the techniques used to create them were soon replicated in other areas.
Modern Silk-Screening
The modern silk-screen method was first masterminded by an English sign painter at the start of the 20th century. The painter, Samuel Simon, devised the process after studying the original Chinese and Japanese screen prints. In 1907, Simon received a patent for the resulting stretched silk, emulsion and wooden frame combination. Eventually, news of the technique spread to other sign makers, and the process quickly revolutionized advertising.
Screen Printing and Art
Within a couple of decades, the silk-screen method became an art phenomenon in both North America and Europe, with the first silk-screened artworks produced by Germans Poldi Domberger and Willi Baumeister. Other geographically based art movements picked up on the trend; in 1947 Henri Matisse produced a stencil-based painting titled "Jazz." America in the 1960s witnessed the meteoric rise of Pop artists, including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, arguably the most famed of screen printers, who used the medium to comment on mass production and the pervasive influences of advertising and pop culture.
Screen Printing and Industry
Industry has found other uses for the silk-screen method. During the 1960s heyday of the silk-screen method, manufacturers used screen-printing processes to make circuits for transistors, called printed circuit boards, which were mass produced and allowed electronics to shrink substantially while still remaining cheap to produce. The silk-screen method continues to enjoy wide use in the marketing and advertising industry and is sometimes employed in the assembly of medical devices.
