Custom screen printing is an everyday occurrence. In kiosks and at printing shops around the country, people purchase various items of clothing, most commonly t-shirts that have undergone this process. While technology has improved the craft, it remains faithful to its ancient roots. After all, this is not a new craft. It was born in China more than 2000 years ago.
Early Custom Screen printing
In China, screen-printing consisted of screens built from human hair and a wooden frame. The stencil was a design of leaves. The Chinese brought it to Japan when they established the Silk Maritime Road. Here, the human hairs were replaced with the thread woven by silk worms. This creative alteration resulted in the name for the process – silk screening.
After this, although the process eventually found its way into Europe, little occurred to advance the trade. A scarcity of silk was a contributory factor. In fact, it was not until the 18th and 19th centuries that Europeans and North Americans began to embrace the art. Interest increased after the 1853 New York’s World’s Fair put on display and exhibit of Japanese silk screens.
Modern Times
Commercially, little progress was made until the 20th century. In 1907, Samuel Simon of Manchester England registered the first commercial patent. He used a brush instead of the later squeegee method. John Pilsworth of San Francisco, made his contribution by inventing the Selectasine method. It allowed applications to utilize several different colors, improving the options considerably. It made Art Deco and other artistic contributions, including the famous “Uncle Same Wants You” Poster from WWI, possible.
Custom Screen Printing
These improvements provided the basis for what has since become a thriving industry. Initially used for producing artistic wallpaper and fabrics, it has since been embraced by the advertising industry. Today, it is responsible for a variety of artistic and functional materials. These include custom screen printing of T-shirts and posters.
