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- Senior Project
- November 10, 1995
- Silk Screening
- Silk screening is an art form that affects us all. It is a relatively a new art form threw
- which artists in this field of design and work have the ability to influence masses of
- people with their designs. We are, in essence billboards of the designers art work every
- time we slip on, look at their design on it. The forerunners to silk screening was
- stenciling and block printing. There is evidence that cavemen used stencils to create their
- cave paintings depicting important events in their lives. Stencils have difficulties with
- "islands" (such as the space shaped like a triangle in a capital "A" that is surrounded on
- all sides) and complex shapes (Termini, 11). Thin bridges of stencil material had been
- employed to hold the islands of simple designs in place. These bridges inherently interrupt
- the smooth flow of
- a design, and even with these bridges artists were limited to fairly simple designs.
- Block printing is much like an early printing press. It employs a large negative of the
- design carved in wood. The ink is applied to the design and is pressed down upon the
- medium, be it fabric, paper, or leather. Block printing was long used in the East, but
- moved to Europe in the 1100Æs. It was mainly used by the Europeans to reproduce costly
- Italian brocades, velvets, and silk damask for the middle classes. Despite the need of
- careful planning and preparation, block printing spread rapidly
-
- across Europe. By the 1400Æs, after several generations of masterful work and
- experimentation, a respected printing technique (of block printing) evolved (Ahlberg and
- Jarneryd, 64). German workshops during this time period were regarded as the most advanced
- in both technique and equipment innovation(Erickson 138).
- A man by the name of Gutenberg made one of the most revolutionarily inventions that
- employed the techniques of block printing in 1436 or 1437. GutenbergÆs printing press was
- an assemblage of
- moveable letters carved from wood. This printing press allowed the printing of books for the
- first time, enabling the average man to own books. The technique of copperplate engraving
- was added to block printing in the early 18th century to produce fine lines. The wood block
- was covered in copper, giving the wood integrity and allowing for finer lines (Ahlberg and
- Jarneryd, 70).. During the industrial revolution of the late 1700Æs, cloth printing was
- moved to the factories. Block and copper plates were put
- to cylinder rollers, allowing the printing of long bolts of fabric quickly and continuously
- (Ahlberg and Jarneryd, 71). It was the Japanese who first attempted to use thin strands of
- silk to hold the islands of their designs in place, rather than the traditional stencil
- bridges. The art of silk screening first emerged around 1900 when American artists started
- to use sheets of silk tightly stretched over a wood frame. This advancement meant that
- stencil bridges no longer had to be used, and an incredible freedom with complexity of
- design was finally gained. The traditionally used stencil brush was replaced with a
- squeegee
- (a strip of rubber in a wooden handle) in order to quickly and efficiently spread the ink
- over the entire design (Termini, 13).
- Despite its invention by artists, silk screening was used almost exclusively as a
- commercial
-
- process until the late 1930Æs when government grants from The Works Project provided artists
- with supplies, equipment, and time to explore this medium. When artists from other mediums
- began working with silk screening, they naturally carried over techniques that they had used
- in the past. Many of the artists, such as Guy Maccoy, Robert Gwathmy, Elizabeth Olds, and
- Philip Hicken were painters. There use of hybrid techniques resulted in prints with
- characteristics of watercolors, wash-like areas, and prints with visible brush strokes
- (Termini 13).
- The usage of all sorts of hybrid techniques continued into the 1950Æs. In the 1950Æs, the
- popular art forms of Pop, Optical Art, and Minimal Art gave silk screening the vehicle to
- become an art form unto its own. These art forms reproduced art work traditionally done in
- print which employed hard edges, exact borders, and defined lines. These characteristics
- could be obtained on fabrics through the use of silk screening. Traditionally printed art
- such as "CampbellÆs Soup Labels" could now be printed on T-
- shirts. The use of exact borders, hard edges, and defined lines finally brought silk
- screening into its own over fifty years after its invention.
- There are many different techniques in the art of silk screening, serigraphic stencils,
- knife-cut film stencils, and photographic stencils. Knife-cut stencils include stencils cut
- from film. Serigraphic stencils include stencils made through the techniques of glue and
- tusch (liquid resist). Photographic stencils are produced the processes of "the direct
- method" (Russ 73) and "the indirect method" (Russ 76).
- Glue stencils produced through the method of serigraphic stencils, employ the application of
- tusch (liquid resist) onto the screen in the sections that are to be printed. Only special
- glues can be used for this type of screening technique. The glue must remain water soluble
- even when it is dry, in
-
- order for the design to be removed after the printing is complete.
- The design created by the tusche gives a an almost liquid effect of splattering, painted
- brush strokes, or dripping effects can be achieved. The tusche used must be applied thickly
- in order to avoid glue infiltrating the positive design area. One technique that may be
- employed to check the proper application of the tusche is to hold the design up to a light
- source and "look for pin holes"(Termini 108). If there are such holes, another layer of the
- tusche must be applied in order to preserve the integrity of the design throughout the
- application of the glue. The tusche repels the glue because the tusche is an oil based
- substance, where as the glue is water based. Lipstick, crayons, pastels, ect. may be used as
- resists.
- Glue is now poured onto the screen and spread over it; a piece cardboard can be used for
- this task. The first coat dries for approximately ten minutes and then a thinner second
- coat is applied. After the second coat dries sufficiently, it is possible to remove the
- resist. To remove it, piece of paper is placed under the screen and a small amount of
- paint thinner is added. Rubbing the screen with an old rag or an old toothbrush dissolves
- the resist in minutes. The paint thinner is wiped from the screen a
- nd it is ready to print. To remove the glue stencil once the printing is complete, the
- screen is run under warm water. Water soluble glues such as ElmerÆs Glue should not be used
- due to the fact that they do not remain water soluble once they have fully dried. This
- characteristic of the glue would not allow for the removal of the glue design once the
- printing was complete and would essentially ruin the screen for any further use in the
- future.
- The three steps of knife-cutting film are cutting, adhering , and peeling,. The cutting of
- the screen
-
- involves the transfer of a design to the film. Cutting the outline of the design onto the
- first layer of the film and not through the second, allows for the application of the cut
- layer of the film to the screen. The adhering technique used to secure the film to the
- screen depends on the type of film used. Water soluble films may be applied simply by
- moistening the screen and applying the film to the screen. Work must be done quickly and
- evenly in order to avoid the formation of air bubbles between the sc reen and the film. If
- the screen is a synthetic screen, the application of an abrasive is required to roughen up
- the fibers to allow the film to adhere properly. A cleanser such as Ajax does the job well,
- but the screen must be thoroughly rinsed before the application of the film to the screen.
- Films that are applied by lacquers or by special adhering fluids must be done by the
- directions described by the manufacture of the film. Then the printing process may begin.
- One must make sure that a water soluble film is not being used with a water based ink, or a
- lacquer based ink with a lacquer based film. This will dissolve the film and the design will
- deteriorate. The direct method of the photographic process results in screens that are
- extremely tough and hard wearing. This process requires a darkroom, a standard photographic
- orange safe light, and the proper raw chemical materials. The screen is immersed into the
- proper solution in order to coat the screen in the light sensitive film, and later dried. A
- standard photographic exposure lamp completes the task. The simplest to install and the
- cheapest is a "àphotographersÆ No. 2 Photo floodlight bulbàa lamp will il luminate a
- circular area with a diameter equal to the perpendicular
-
- distance between the lamp and the working surface." (Russ 75) In laymenÆs terms, the light
- There is no set calculation for determining the correct time for proper exposure of the
- film. A test of multiple time intervals will be beneficial in determining the correct length
- of exposure time. Take a sample positive (say a sheet of instant lettering) , mark it out in
- parallel bands, fix it to the screen in the usual way, and cover with a
- sheet of card. Switch on the light and at intervals of two minutes, pull the card back to
- the next mark. When the screen is developed, there will definitely be no difficulty in which
- of the bands has been correctly exposed; the insoluble parts will be thick, the soluble
- parts will be clear, and the edges will be sharp. The findings of this test can be relied on
- to apply to all subsequent exposures, so long as the conditions are not varied. (75) The
- indirect method of the photographic process lies in the manipulation of the thin film of
- photographic gelatin required for this process. First, a sheet of paper is coated with the
- gelatin which is sensitized in a solution of potassium bichromate. The gelatin is now
- exposed in the same process used in the direct process. It is then transferred to an India
- rubber temporary support. The gelatin is now developed in warm water, the support paper is
- peeled off, and the transfer of the gelatin to the final s upport is commenced. The gelatin
- film is left to dry. Each technique of stenciling has its own set of effects that may be
- achieved with its use. The squeegee is second only to the screen in the importance of the
- individual pieces of equipment (Birkner 28). The printing process begins with the
- positioning of the medium into the registration tabs. The registration tabs are simply set
- marks below the screen to aid in the proper
-
- position of the medium according to the past prints and predetermined desired positioning.
- The screen is now lowered and ink is added for the first time or fresh ink is added as
- needed to the top portion of the screen. The squeegee is positioned behind the ink and
- pulled toward your body. When the bottom of the printing area of the screen is reached, the
- squeegee is lifted and returned to the far end of the screen. The screen is raised and he
- print is removed to a drying area. Most prints take approximate ly twenty to thirty minutes
- to dry. Prints always dry faster when they are suspended on a slatted drying rack, allowing
- air to travel over both the top and the bottom of the print. If this is the first print of a
- run, it would be beneficial to examine the print for imperfections, blurred areas, or
- pinholes as a sort of final check (Gardner 120). It is also smart to periodically check the
- prints through the run for the same type of quality control, and to also make sure that the
- film on the screen is not being dissolved by the ink. The previous steps are repeated
- through the entire run. When the run of the design is complete, the ink should be thoroughly
- washed from the screen. This ensures that the screen is properly prepped and ready to go for
- the next design asked of it. Silk screening is an art form that is truly directed toward the
- masses. It can appeal to people I the forms of wallpaper, greeting cards, tile patterns,
- T-shirts, fabric designs, or posters produced by this truly unique art form. If it was not
- for the public, the art form of silk screening would not exist as it dose today.
-
- Works Cited
-
- Ahlberg, G. and Jarneryd, O. Block and Silk Screen Printing
- New York: Gramercy Publishing Co., MCMLXI
-
- Birkner, Heinrich. Screen Printing
- New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 1971
-
- Erickson, Janet. Block Printing on Textiles
- New York: Watson-Guptill Publishing, 1961
-
- Gardner, Andrew B. The Artists Silk Screen Manual
- New York: Putman, 1976
-
- Russ, Stephen. Practical Screen Printing
- New York: Watson-Guptill Publishing, 1969
-
- Termini, Maria. Silk Screening
- Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1978
-
-
- Research Paper Outline
- Silk Screening:
- I. History of Silk Screening
- A. Its origin
- B. Its early development
- C. Its recent developments
- II. Tools of the Trade
- A. High pressure asitone gun
- B. the application of computer aided graphics and computer scanning technology
- C. methods for the cutting of the screens
- D. screening techniques and "tricks"
- III. Commercial Application of Silk Screening
- A. Its impact on the general public
- B. Its use by the general public
- C. Its monetary successfulness in the general public
- IV. The Future of Silk Screening
- A. Present day technological advancements
- B. Automation
- C. Silk screeningÆs possible future in our age of technology
-