Screen Printing (a.k.a. Silk Screening) has come a long way over the years to the point where today’s technology offers a wide range of innovative design options. Benefits of screen printing include:

• Multiple Media Applications: Screen printing can be applied to a wide range of media from clothing and fabric to metals and plastic as well as media that is both flat and curved.
• Multiple Color Designs: Screen printing can range from single color imprints and multi-color prints to full color, near photo quality prints.
• Texture: An advantage of screen printing over other forms of print is the ability to apply varying thicknesses of ink to media providing the appearance of depth and texture to a design.
• Inks: Screen printing can be matched to PMS colors to ensure conformance with an organizations color requirements as well as consistency between products and across media.
• Specialty Inks and Processes: Screening provides the potential for using a wide range of specialty inks including those with a glitter, metallic, leather and suede appearance among many others. In addition, screening can be accomplished in conjunction with other techniques (see Mixed Media).

Basic screen printing concepts that can help in planning your project include:

• Color Separation: Screen printing requires the application of a design’s different colors in separate screening processes. As a result, the colors must be separated in the artwork that is used to create the screens so that one screen can be made for each color.
• Velum: Screens for spot color printing can be created by printing color separated artwork onto velum. The use of velum, however, does not support half-tones in artwork.
• Film: While more expensive, screens created from color separated artwork using film provide for half tones and enhanced detail.
• Underlay: Some colors and designs require a white underlay coat of ink when printing on darker colored fabrics in order for the colors and design to show up. This underlay requires an additional screening process and is treated as an additional “color” for pricing purposes.

There are a wide range of screen printing techniques. While more basic techniques such as spot printing may be applied to a wide range of products (e.g. fabric, metal, etc.), some advanced techniques (e.g. tonal discharge) are specific to fabric printing:

	Spot Color Printing: A wide range of ink colors applied individually to a garment or other media. When multiple colors are applied to the same media, each is applied individually.
	Spot Color with Half Tone Printing: As with spot color, colored inks are applied individually to a media, however, varying shades or tones of the color are possible by using a film in development of the screen.

More Screen Printing Techniques