Screen-printing

Screen-printing, also known as silkscreening or serigraphy, is a printmaking technique that creates a sharp-edged single-color image using a stencil and a porous fabric. A screenprint or serigraph is an image created using this technique.

Stenciling techniques

There are several ways to create a stencil for screenprinting. The simplest is to create it by hand in the desired shape, either by cutting a piece of paper (or plastic film) and attaching it to the screen, or by painting a negative image directly on the screen with a filler material which becomes impermeable when it dries. For a more painterly technique, the artist may choose to paint the image with drawing fluid, wait for the image to dry, and then "scoop coat" the entire screen with screen filler. After the filler has dried, a hose can be used to spray out the screen, and only the areas that were painted by the drawing fluid will wash away, leaving a stencil around it. This process enables the artist to incorporate their hand into the process, to stay true to their drawing style and still produce multiples.

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The most popular and flexible technique is to transfer a pre-drawn or printed image onto a screen using a type of photographic emulsion:

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• The original image is placed on a transparent overlay. The image may be drawn or painted directly on the overlay, photocopied, or printed with a laser printer, as long as the areas to be inked are opaque. A black-and-white negative may also be used (projected on to the screen)
• The overlay is placed over the emulsion-coated screen, and then exposed with a strong light. The areas that are not opaque in the overlay allow light to reach the emulsion, which hardens and sticks to the screen.
• The screen is washed off thoroughly. The areas of emulsion that were not exposed to light — corresponding to the image on the overlay — dissolve and wash away, leaving a negative stencil of the image attached to the screen.

Photographic screens can reproduce images with a high level of detail, and can be reused for thousands of copies. The ease of producing transparent overlays from any black-and-white image using a photocopier makes this the most convenient method for artists who are not familiar with other printmaking techniques. The low resolution and size limitations of a photocopier make film positives necessary in professional screen printing environments. Artists can obtain screens, frames, emulsion, and lights separately; there are also preassembled kits, which are especially popular for printing small items such as greeting cards.

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