The Progress of Screen
Evolution Screen Printing.
The Screen used for Screen Printing was originally composed by a wooden frame and a mash made of hair. This required a very difficult and laboured process to create one of these screens.
There was a progress in the making in 1907, when Samuel Simon from Manchester patent the Screen for the Screen Printing made of Silk, with more resistance and the possibility of printing more copies of the same image. He also introduced rubber rolls for the spread of the ink on the screen (evolved in the Squeegie we know now). This invention was called Silk-Screen Printing.
With Serigrahpy the possibilities where infinite, it was possible to print on any kind of support and material, from paper, to proper objects. The strictly commercial use of the printing process made sure that the serigraphy was not recorded as a new graphic expression, but as a real printing process; therefore, serigraph was considered a minor artistic form.
Serigraphy and Pop Art
In the United States, in 1920 the artist Anthony Velonis produced the first art silk-screen prints. Other artists approached serigraphy, such as Jackson Pollock, Marcel Duchamp, Victor Vasarely, Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol. The latter consecrated the serigraphy a real form of artistic expression typical of the 60s, in full economic and industrial boom. The infinite reproducibility of the work of art characterizes its diffusion to a large audience. exactly like any commercial product. It’s the Pop Art!
The Evolution of Scree-printing
Recent history records the production of terital fabric, in 1954, nylon, polyester and stainless steel. In the mid-fifties the first jellies arrived, or photosensitive emulsions, which allowed to reproduce more and more subtle and defined details.
Screen printing compared to other printing technologies allows to check and choose the thickness of the deposited ink, naturally combined with the nature of the pigments and binders selected for its composition, which determine the resistance to light and mechanical abrasion of a decoration.
Screen printing is used for printing multiple materials and objects and only in screen printing you can get a wide range of special effects, determined by the availability of specific inks, glossy, matt, satin, with relief effects, glitter, metallics, iridescent , iridescent, luminescent, thermochromic, photochromic, retro-reflective, soft-touch and others, which greatly embellish the print.
To date, however, screen printing is often replaced by inkjet printing with reduced costs for small print runs.
Screen printing in textile printing
A separate discussion concerns the use of silk-screen printing in textile printing where properly selected pigments are able to ensure that fabrics are relatively more resistant to domestic washing and with a soft touch, where the print does not remain rigid. They are used in the printing of clothing items, Plastisol inks particularly suitable for t-shirt printing.
Like any printing technology, the process that leads to silk-screen printing includes various steps: preparation of the sketch, the creation of films or transparencies through special software, the engraving of the frame. Although aided by technology, this printing technique retains a very crafted appearance.
The Evolution Screen Printing
The Devil’s Playground uses the technique of artistic serigraphy to produce t-shirts that stand out for their originality, preciousness and particularity reproducing them in multiples.
This allows you to have a real work of art on t-shirts and bags in fabric, because the reproduced subjects are the exclusive creation and ownership of TDP, with all the beauty and originality that characterises our work.
