Senior Project 
November 10, 1995
Silk Screening
 Silk screening is an art form that affects us all. It is a relatively a new art form threw
 which artists in this field of design and work have the ability to influence masses of
 people with their designs. We are, in essence billboards of the designers art work every
 time we slip on, look at  their design on it. The forerunners to silk screening was
 stenciling and block printing. There is evidence that cavemen used stencils to create their
 cave paintings depicting important events in their lives. Stencils have difficulties with
 "islands" (such as the space shaped like a triangle in a capital "A" that is surrounded on
 all sides) and complex shapes (Termini, 11). Thin bridges of stencil material had been
 employed to hold the islands of simple designs in place. These bridges inherently interrupt
 the smooth flow of 
a design, and even with these bridges artists were limited to fairly simple designs.
 Block printing is much like an early printing press. It employs a large negative of the
 design carved in wood. The ink is applied to the design and is pressed down upon the
 medium, be it fabric, paper, or leather. Block printing was long used in the East, but
 moved to Europe in the 1100’s. It was mainly used by the Europeans to reproduce costly
 Italian brocades, velvets, and silk damask for the middle classes. Despite the need of
 careful planning and preparation, block printing spread rapidly 

across Europe. By the 1400’s, after several generations of masterful work and
experimentation, a respected printing technique (of block printing) evolved (Ahlberg and
Jarneryd, 64). German workshops during this time period were regarded as the most advanced
in both technique and equipment innovation(Erickson 138).
 A man by the name of Gutenberg made one of the most revolutionarily inventions that
 employed the techniques of block printing in 1436 or 1437. Gutenberg’s  printing press was
 an assemblage of 
moveable letters carved from wood. This printing press allowed the printing of books for the
first time, enabling the average man to own books. The technique of copperplate engraving
was added to block printing in the early 18th century to produce fine lines. The wood block
was covered in copper, giving the wood integrity and allowing for finer lines (Ahlberg and
Jarneryd, 70).. During the industrial revolution of the late 1700’s, cloth printing was
moved to the factories. Block and copper plates were put
 to cylinder rollers, allowing the printing of long bolts of fabric quickly and continuously
 (Ahlberg and Jarneryd, 71). It was the Japanese who first attempted to use thin strands of
 silk to hold the islands of their designs in place, rather than the traditional stencil
 bridges. The art of silk screening first emerged around 1900 when American artists started
 to use sheets of silk tightly stretched over a wood frame. This advancement meant that
 stencil bridges no longer had to be used, and an incredible freedom with complexity of
 design was finally gained. The traditionally used stencil brush was replaced with a
 squeegee 
(a strip of rubber in a wooden handle) in order to quickly and efficiently spread the ink
over the entire design (Termini, 13).
 Despite its invention by artists, silk screening was used almost exclusively as a
 commercial 

process until the late 1930’s when government grants from The Works Project provided artists
with supplies, equipment, and time to explore this medium. When artists from other mediums
began working with silk screening, they naturally carried over techniques that they had used
in the past. Many of the artists, such as Guy Maccoy, Robert Gwathmy, Elizabeth Olds, and
Philip Hicken were painters. There use of hybrid techniques resulted in prints with
characteristics of watercolors, wash-like areas, and prints with visible brush strokes
(Termini 13).
 The usage of all sorts of hybrid techniques continued into the 1950’s. In the 1950’s, the
 popular art forms of Pop, Optical Art, and Minimal Art gave silk screening the vehicle to
 become an art form unto its own. These art forms reproduced art work traditionally done in
 print which employed hard edges, exact borders, and defined lines. These characteristics
 could be obtained on fabrics through the use of silk screening. Traditionally printed art
 such as "Campbell’s Soup Labels" could now be printed on T-
shirts. The use of exact borders, hard edges, and defined lines finally brought silk
screening into its own over fifty years after its invention.
 There are many different techniques in the art of silk screening, serigraphic stencils,
 knife-cut film stencils, and photographic stencils. Knife-cut stencils include stencils cut
 from film. Serigraphic stencils include stencils made through the techniques of glue and
 tusch (liquid resist). Photographic stencils are produced the processes of "the direct
 method" (Russ 73) and "the indirect method" (Russ 76).
Glue stencils produced through the method of serigraphic stencils, employ the application of
tusch (liquid resist) onto the screen in the sections that are to be printed. Only special
glues can be used for this type of screening technique. The glue must remain water soluble
even when it is dry, in 

order for the design to be removed after the printing is complete.
The design created by the tusche gives a an almost liquid effect of splattering, painted
brush strokes, or dripping effects can be achieved. The tusche used must be applied thickly
in order to avoid glue infiltrating the positive design area. One technique that may be
employed to check the proper application of the tusche is to hold the design up to a light
source and "look for pin holes"(Termini 108). If there are such holes, another layer of the
tusche must be applied in order to preserve the integrity of the design throughout the
application of the glue.  The tusche repels the glue because the tusche is an oil based
substance, where as the glue is water based. Lipstick, crayons, pastels, ect. may be used as
resists.
 Glue is now poured onto the screen and spread over it; a piece cardboard can be used for
 this task. The first coat dries for approximately ten minutes and then a thinner second
 coat is applied. After the second coat dries sufficiently, it is possible to remove the
 resist. To remove it,  piece of paper is placed under the screen and a small amount of
 paint thinner is added. Rubbing the screen with an old rag or an old toothbrush dissolves
 the resist in minutes. The paint thinner is wiped from the screen a
nd it is ready to print. To remove the glue stencil once the printing is complete, the
screen is run under warm water. Water soluble glues such as Elmer’s Glue should not be used
due to the fact that they do not remain water soluble once they have fully dried. This
characteristic of the glue would not allow for the removal of the glue design once the
printing was complete and would essentially ruin the screen for any further use in the
future.
 The three steps of knife-cutting film are cutting, adhering , and peeling,. The cutting of
 the screen

involves the transfer of a design to the film. Cutting the outline of the design onto the
first layer of the film and not through the second, allows for the application of the cut
layer of the film to the screen. The adhering technique used to secure the film to the
screen depends on the type of film used. Water soluble films may be applied simply by
moistening the screen and applying the film to the screen. Work must be done quickly and
evenly in order to avoid the formation of air bubbles between the sc reen and the film. If
the screen is a synthetic screen, the application of an abrasive is required to roughen up
the fibers to allow the film to adhere properly. A cleanser such as Ajax does the job well,
but the screen must be thoroughly rinsed before the application of the film to the screen.
Films that are applied by lacquers or by special adhering fluids must be done by the
directions described by the manufacture of the film. Then the printing process may begin.
One must make sure that a water soluble film is not being used with a water based ink, or a
lacquer based ink with a lacquer based film. This will dissolve the film and the design will
deteriorate. The direct method of the photographic process results in screens that are
extremely tough and hard wearing. This process requires a darkroom, a standard photographic
orange safe light, and the proper raw chemical materials. The screen is immersed into the
proper solution in order to coat the screen in the light sensitive film, and later dried. A
standard photographic exposure lamp completes the task. The simplest to install and the
cheapest  is a "…photographers’ No. 2 Photo floodlight bulb…a lamp will il luminate a
circular area with a diameter equal to the perpendicular 

distance between the lamp and the working surface." (Russ 75) In laymen’s terms, the light  
There is no set calculation for determining the correct time for proper exposure of the
film. A test of multiple time intervals will be beneficial in determining the correct length
of exposure time. Take a sample positive (say a sheet of instant lettering) , mark it out in
parallel                  bands, fix it to the screen in the usual way, and cover with a
sheet of card. Switch on the light and at intervals of two minutes, pull the card back to
the next mark. When the screen is developed, there will definitely be no difficulty in which
of the bands has been correctly exposed; the insoluble parts will be thick, the soluble
parts will be clear, and the edges will be sharp. The findings of this test can be relied on
to apply to all subsequent exposures, so long as the conditions are not varied. (75) The
indirect method of the photographic process lies in the manipulation of the thin film of
photographic gelatin required for this process. First, a sheet of paper is coated with the
gelatin which is sensitized in a solution of potassium bichromate. The gelatin is now
exposed in the same process used in the direct process. It is then transferred to an India
rubber temporary support. The gelatin is now developed in warm water, the support paper is
peeled off, and the transfer of the gelatin to the final s upport is commenced. The gelatin
film is left to dry. Each technique of stenciling has its own set of effects that may be
achieved with its use. The squeegee is second only to the screen in the importance of the
individual pieces of equipment (Birkner 28). The printing process begins with the
positioning of the medium into the registration tabs. The registration tabs are simply set
marks below the screen to aid in the proper 

position of the medium according to the past prints and predetermined desired positioning.
The screen is now lowered and ink is added for the first time or fresh ink is added as
needed to the top portion of the screen. The squeegee is positioned behind the ink and
pulled toward your body. When the bottom of the printing area of the screen is reached, the
squeegee is lifted and returned to the far end of the screen. The screen is raised and he
print is removed to a drying area. Most prints take approximate ly twenty to thirty minutes
to dry. Prints always dry faster when they are suspended on a slatted drying rack, allowing
air to travel over both the top and the bottom of the print. If this is the first print of a
run, it would be beneficial to examine the print for imperfections, blurred areas, or
pinholes as a sort of final check (Gardner 120). It is also smart to periodically check the
prints through the run for the same type of quality control, and to also make sure that the
film on the screen is not being dissolved by the ink. The previous steps are repeated
through the entire run. When the run of the design is complete, the ink should be thoroughly
washed from the screen. This ensures that the screen is properly prepped and ready to go for
the next design asked of it. Silk screening is an art form that is truly directed toward the
masses. It can appeal to people I the forms of wallpaper, greeting cards, tile patterns,
T-shirts, fabric designs, or posters produced by this truly unique art form. If it was not
for the public, the art form of silk screening would not exist as it dose today.

Works Cited

Ahlberg, G. and Jarneryd, O.  Block and Silk Screen Printing
New York: Gramercy Publishing Co., MCMLXI

Birkner, Heinrich.  Screen Printing
New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 1971

Erickson, Janet. Block Printing on Textiles
New York: Watson-Guptill Publishing, 1961

Gardner, Andrew B. The Artists Silk Screen Manual
New York:  Putman, 1976

Russ, Stephen.  Practical Screen Printing
New York: Watson-Guptill Publishing, 1969

Termini, Maria.  Silk Screening
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1978


Research Paper Outline
Silk Screening:
I.  History of Silk Screening
A.  Its origin
B.  Its early development
C.  Its recent developments
II.  Tools of the Trade
A.  High pressure asitone gun
B.  the application of computer aided graphics and computer scanning technology
C.  methods for the cutting of the screens
D.  screening techniques and "tricks"
III.  Commercial Application of Silk Screening
A.  Its impact on the general public
B.  Its use by the general public
C.  Its monetary successfulness in the general public
IV.  The Future of Silk Screening
A.  Present day technological advancements
B.  Automation
C.  Silk screening’s possible future in our age of technology
