Screen Printing or Silk Screening, is a decoration process that has been in common usage for over 100 years and still proves to be one of these best methods of decoration for many items. The basic process is to create an outline of the art that you would like to imprint onto your item, on an impermeable material. That outline is then placed back to back with a screen that has very small openings in the mesh. This creates the Screen or Set Up for screen printing. Originally, the mesh was a silk material and that is the root of the moniker “Silk Screening”; Polyester is used more commonly now for the mesh.

How it’s done

These screens are then placed against a flat or curved surface of an item and ink is pushed through the mesh part of the screen to transfer the image in the screen onto the item being imprinted. A block or squeegee is used to force the ink though the screen and remove any excess ink, to create a clean rendering of the image on the item being printed. Each color being silk screened requires its own screen and own application of the color, or Set Up and Run. The screens can only be used for one color as the ink is spread across the whole screen to imprint the design of each screen. For additional colors, the screens need to be placed very precisely to create a cohesive image with the spot colors.

When it’s used

Screen printing is an excellent form of decoration, but works best for artwork that has spot colors, or solid colors without gradients. Also, it is not ideal for very small details and it does not provide the same resolution as printing on paper. The ink used in screen printing can vary greatly and the density of the screen adjusts along with the desired result and the material being screened onto goods. This process is used for everything from promotional tote bags to snowboards and balloons, and can provide hugely different results depending on the variables and methods.

Contact Bag Warehouse today for help finding the perfect item for your company to customize using silk screening or any of our other great