Have you decided to print a personalized T-shirt and would like to know more about screen printing and how it works ? Let’s start by saying that screen printing is not such a difficult printing technique to use, it is used very much on an industrial level.

Knowing the screen printing, its features and its advantages, however, is very important to understand how much and how to use it for the printing of your company products.

But before thinking about this and knowing more about screen printing, how it works and its techniques, here is some history on the origin of this printing process.

Serigraphy: the origins
In etymology, serigraphy means ” writing on silk ” and is, precisely, highlighting printing on fabric. This printing technique has its origins in the stencil , a normographic mask that allows to faithfully reproduce signs and symbols. Some say it derives from the Phoenicians, which was later introduced into Japanese art and then naturalized French around the twentieth century. What is certain is that this type of printing is currently considered one of the most innovative of the last period, precisely because it also uses new technological supports such as 3D printing.

Well, given these premises, how does screen printing work specifically?

Serigraphy: how it works
Screen printing is a print that uses permeography , a technique that allows the ink to penetrate from the substrate to the fabric concerned. The passage of the ink from the screen printing frame (also called frame) to the printing surface occurs simply by means of a light pressure by a bar which leaning on the support facilitates its sliding. Put more simply, the screen printing allows the passage of colors from the frame to the fabric through a penetration process that allows the transfer of one color at a time.

Obviously on an industrial level, this process is repeated over and over and has its own fact of being very fast in the construction phase.

You can use screen printing to print your company T-shirts but also other products with a slightly more rigid surface such as porcelain, metal or even iron. Obviously, in these specific cases, the use of powder colors, subsequently mixed, is also associated with the same technique, in order to create a sticky compound easily applicable to the rigidity of the surfaces.

Screen printing is a well-known printing technique that uses a fabric as a matrix to transfer ink to a wide variety of substrates, such as paper, wood, fabric, glass, but much more.

The technique, known since ancient times in the Far East to decorate fabrics, became extremely popular in the artistic sphere in the 1960s. Andy Warhol, in particular, contributed decisively to his popularity: many of his works were in fact created with this technique, which allowed him to print a large number of copies of the same subject, but at the same time to obtain a print every time unique, varying pressure and inks.

The spread of screen printing in underground environments and in different subcultures to create posters and covers is also due to another important factor, namely the ease with which it is possible to create a rudimentary screen printing laboratory, combined with the availability of materials.

Unlike techniques such as lithography, woodcut and etching, which require more complex equipment and more expensive materials and which sometimes require caution in use, a small screen printing laboratory can be built at home at a reduced cost and without special skills.

As for the work environment, a table large enough to position the frame is needed, a room that at the right time can act as a dark room (preventing light from entering), and a tub in which to wash the frame. Screen printing can be done in a more or less sophisticated way,