Screen Printing History Lesson, San Francisco and San Diego Screen Printers

 

Screen Printing History Lesson, San Francisco and San Diego Screen Printers

Most of the people are blind to the rich history of San Francisco and San Diego Screen Printers.Almost all of the patterned fabrics we buy today have been industrially broadcast - a slightly new process that's fast, defined and tremendously flexible.

But screen printing by hand, as is still done in San Francisco and San Diego, still has many advantages, enabling artists and crafts people to produce images that are graphic, attention-grabbing and individual.

Screen printing is the youngest of all of the direct printing methods. It originated in China then was adapted by the japanese in the form of katazome. The japanese used woven silk to make the mesh and lacquers to make stencils. The use of silk is where screen printing got its another name - Silk screening or silk screen printing.

The modern screen printing process originated from patents taken out by Samuel Simon in the early 1900s in Britain. This concept was then adopted in San Francisco, California, by John Pilsworth in 1914 who used screen printing to form multicolor prints in much a similar manner as screen printing is done today. In reality, that is still today why California, especially San Francisco and San Diego became instrumental in the screen printing industry. In truth one San Diego screen printer still offers local personalised delivery very similar to the olden days.

During the 1st World War, screen printing took off as an industrial process for printing flags and banners. The utilization of photographic stencils at this time made the method more adaptable and inspired wide-spread use. The term silk screen hasn't been in use within the industry since the mid-1940s when the employment of silk was discontinued because of its use in the war effort. Since that time, screen printing has used polyester material for the screen mesh.

This method of printing has become crucial in the production of a wide range of manufactured items, including decorative panels, printed circuit boards, touch-sensitive switches, plastic containers, and published threads. Stencils for commercial screen printing are usually produced by photomechanical means. A fine synthetic fabric or metal mesh is stretched over an oblong frame, and a photopolymer coating is applied to the entire surface. Exposure of the photopolymer through a film positive can cause it to harden in the areas not planned to print. The unexposed material is then washed away to form the open areas of the stencil. In the printing press, this screen is pressed against the surface to be published, and ink is forced through the open areas of the stencil with a rubber squeegee.

The presses for screen printing range from simple manual devices for the small-scale printing of T-shirts and banners to enormous sheet-fed presses for multicolor, high-volume commercial applications. The process is distinguished by its ability to print finely detailed images on almost any surface, including paper, plastics, metals, and three-dimensional surfaces. Compared to other printmaking techniques, it is more desirable because of its the low costs, even for enormous sizes. It is likely to create glossy, transparent and solid colors. And it is feasible to print on many alternative materials. It is also the sole major printing process that is constantly used to produce photographs that are not intended to be viewed. The circuit patterns in touch-sensitive switch panels, for instance, are screen-printed with special conductive inks.
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