{"id":14261,"date":"2019-03-07T15:53:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T15:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anatol.com\/?p=14261"},"modified":"2021-10-21T08:24:09","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T08:24:09","slug":"a-history-of-screen-printing-tracing-our-industrys-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anatol.com\/es\/a-history-of-screen-printing-tracing-our-industrys-roots\/","title":{"rendered":"A History of Screen Printing: Tracing Our Industry’s Roots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s screen printing shops are filled with advanced technology and sophisticated screen printing equipment<\/a>. You separate your colors on computers and make your stencils with top-quality HD machines. You can find inks custom formulated to achieve just about any desired effect, and oftentimes, prints are laid down by automatic presses. You flash cure with high-powered units and cure our garments on automatic conveyor dryers. When you watch the process from start to finish, it surely seems fully modernized. You might be surprised to know just how far back the roots of today’s modern, high-tech industry can be traced. Here\u2019s how screen printing transformed from a simple, pre-historic artform to the fully automated process creating products that have found their way into every office, every home and every nook of modern society.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The earliest roots of screen printing<\/h2>\n

There is no one early root of screen printing. Rather, experts say the process evolved from prehistoric artistic and cloth-decorating technique into the high-tech industry we recognize today. Using stencils to create imagery has been done since man began painting; there is evidence that some prehistoric cave men used stencils to make their rough imagery. In France and Spain, stencils were held against cave walls, and prehistoric paints were blown through a straw-like device to form images that have lasted for centuries. The same technique has long been used throughout the Pacific Islands for decorating cloth and clothing; modern batik prints and Hawaiian shirts both have their roots in this type of apparel decorating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most historians agree that the first time screens were used to decorate fabrics was in Japan and China in the first and second century. In China, delicate screens were woven from silk, and in Japan, they were woven of human hair. Images in waterproof waxed paper were sandwiched between layers of the mesh to block out the desired designs, and stiff-bristled brushes were used to force ink through the screens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Screen printing made its way to Europe in the 17th<\/sup> or 18th<\/sup> century. There, screen printing and stenciling were used to make common items such as playing cards. They also were used to make elaborate wallpapers and d\u00e9cor for extremely wealthy upper classes. The process became more common as silk became more readily available from China, but it remained an art used to decorate fabrics, d\u00e9cor and other items for the upper classes; it was a far cry from the mass-production, readily available printing we know today.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time screen printing was being introduced to Europe and the American colonies, flocking \u2014 a process still used today \u2014 was used to add interesting textured designs to wallpapers and fabrics. Stencils were used to apply adhesive in a specific pattern to a substrate, and wood dust or other material was sprinkled onto the adhesive to produce a lasting textural design. In fact, some examples of American colonial flocking still can be found in museums and early colonial homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the late 1880s in Europe, the process truly began to take shape. Often to recreate handwriting, stencils were etched into wax paper and secured between screens. Just as it\u2019s done today, rubber squeegees or rollers were used to force ink through these handwriting stencils to producethe final image. This technique was used in the United Kingdom under the name Cyclostyle and in the United States under the name Mimeograph.<\/span><\/p>\n

While all of these technologies and techniques undoubtedly inspired modern-day screen printing, it wouldn\u2019t be until the early 20th<\/sup> century that modern day process would truly be \u201cinvented.\u201d And once it was invented and embraced as a decorating technique, it would go through a cycle of innovation to become the industry it is today.<\/span><\/p>\n

The early days of modern screen printing<\/h2>\n

From its earliest roots, screen printing would be revolutionized through the 20th<\/sup> century into what we know it as today: A way to quickly and easily produce images on a variety of items, as well as an art form that allows artists to create unique, interesting imagery on a variety of substrates. As with most modern-day technologies, the process evolved rapidly throughout the 20th<\/sup> century due to industrial and technological advances so that it could be used to cheaply and efficiently produce items for mass consumption.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first screen printing presses<\/h3>\n

Englishman Samuel Simon is often credited as the father of modern-day screen printing, due to a patent he filed in 1907. In reality, many printers were filing patents around the same time for the types of machines that would become today\u2019s presses. Perhaps the earliest design to reflect today\u2019s carousel machines was the machine patented by Antoine V\u00e9ricel in 1902. V\u00e9ricel\u2019s patent was for a carousel-style press intended for multi-colored designs on textiles.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the credited inventors of screen printing were European, the process truly took hold and evolved in the United States. American companies began manufacturing and marketing screen printed images in the early 1900s. The earliest items to take hold would be felt pennants. In San Francisco, the Brant & Garner Company \u2014 later the Velvetone Poster Co. \u2014 marketed signs, posters and booklet covers, and would begin to make screen printed advertising displays. Brant & Garner competitor Selectasine, founded in 1915, would create large-format, multi-sheet prints. From there, Selectasine would go on to market the screen printing process itself, selling the earliest mass-market presses, which used hand-cut stencils and cylinders to lay down prints.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The growing popularity of screen printing<\/h3>\n

In the United States, screen printing would expand as an industry rapidly before World War I. Once the war was done, the technology would spread to Canada and Australia, and by the early 1920s, it was becoming popular in Europe, as well. Through the Great Depression and World War II, the United States government would commission artists to make posters that would be mass-produced via screen printing. Printers would realize that the technique could be used on a variety of substrates, including:<\/span><\/p>\n