06 Sep The Art of Screen Printing
The art of screen printing is just than – an art. Aside from being an incredibly fun artistic technique, screen printing also allows for stunning colour reproduction and long-lasting vibrancy that is perfect for commercial production.
Whilst you might remember the process of running a squeegee over a screen of ink in school art class, this seemingly simple art form actually requires significant skill, a keen eye for detail and a real passion for the process in order to get it spot on – which is why we’ve been hard at work perfecting this process for the last 39 years!
To give you a better idea of what goes on behind the scenes, let’s take a look at what it takes to produce the perfect print.
The Design
One of the most exciting parts about screen printing is having the opportunity to work with some truly amazing concepts and designs. Whether receiving a complete design or a rough concept, screen printing professionals love any opportunity to flex our creative muscles and create something special; it’s one of the main reasons we do what we do!
Once a final design is approved, our team of creatives and printing experts will then produce a hi-res digital mock-up for the client to visualise the finished product. With access to the most advanced technology available to our industry, our digital mock-ups are an exact replica of the work to be produced and thus must receive complete approval before progressing to the print preparation stage.
To achieve amazing high-quality results, having a comprehensive understanding of colour and how each will react to various fabrics is absolutely paramount. For this reason, we rely heavily on our experienced creative team to produce truly accurate mock-ups as well as preparing ink colours to exact shades. Our team can even replicate pantone colours which is especially important for reproducing elements of established brands.
Prepping for Print
Now it’s time to prepare for print! This is where we really get to have some fun.
To get started with our print preparation, we first need to create the physical screen. To help visualise this process, picture the screen as a large-scale stencil of sorts. To achieve this, a rectangular frame is layered with a material known as emulsion. This is the solid part of our ‘stencil’ that prevents ink from soaking through. Once the frame is covered, the artwork design is then burned into the screen with a computer-to-screen exposure unit (CTS). Essentially, the CTS removes part of the emulsion to allow ink to pass through in certain sections.
Once the screen is ready to go, it’s then time to get our inks mixed and matched to the design sample with complete precision to ensure authenticity in our replications. Although this is a delicate and technical art form all in itself, our team love a challenge and take pride in our ability to deliver true representations of a client’s original design.
Create something amazing
Now that we’re fully prepped and ready to go, we are able to start bringing all the elements together to form the final piece. With the help of our laser alignment tool, the screen is fastidiously aligned and your material loaded ready to press. With authenticity being a primary tenet of our reproductions, using this process allows us to be certain of your project outcome.
As with any ink-based design, it’s important that the artwork is 100% dry before tagging, packaging and shipping to your door. For this reason, our team firstly pass your product through our industrial dryer via a conveyer belt to ensure the ink is entirely set.
You might think that the completion of this stage means your product is ready to ship, and you would be almost right. Holding the highest of standards for the work we produce, our team then pass each item through a stringent quality control process to ensure consistency across every piece. Nothing is more important to us than the excitement of our customers which is why we continuously strive to design, produce and deliver only the best quality products.
Got an idea? Let’s collaborate! If you’ve got an amazing design or even a creative concept you’d love to see brought to life, have a chat with us today and let’s discuss the possibilities for your project.