First I want to mention where printing was developed so that you can get the idea of when this process started. In the 4^th Century BC items were found in India. In 300 AD, printing blocks were found in Egyptian burial grounds and Pre-Colombian printed textiles were found in Peru and Mexico.

The first form of screen-printing was seen done by the Polynesian Island natives. They would cut designs into banana leaves and forced dye or ink through the leaf openings. They printed on bark cloth or what they called "tapa." They was these native thought of this process was by watching insects eat holes through leaves and seeing the rain run through the holes.

In 960 —1280 AD in the Sung Dynasty, Japan, Japanese people used screen-printing and were extremely skillful in cutting the stencils. They would hold the pieces of the stencils together by gluing human hair to the stencil. These were called "ties." This was very tedious and time consuming but was very strong and it let the ink pass through it. They used paper made of rice called "rice paper."

In the 1700’s, Englanders also used ties for wallpaper but found it to be very difficult for intricate and detailed designs. So they replaced it with a silk material that was stronger and could be used for more detail. This is how the name silk screen-printing got its name from. Today we use man made fibers like plastic or metal. Screen-printing was a well-guarded secret in the early United States and was sold by traveling teachers to local printers and sign makers. They would pay good money for this knowledge. The reason for this is because there were no patents to protect the works of the inventors. The first item to be made in the United States by using the screen printing process was a felt banner in 1910.

The plates that are used for photographic screen-printing were developed by 5 different men and between the years of 1914 and 1915. Photography was a major contribution to the screen making process. A Frenchman, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre perfected the method of photography in 1837 who was developed by Nicephore Niepce. He used light to change a chemical coating on a sheet of copper into a picture. He developed this method by bringing out latent or hidden image in the plate. This was called daguerreotypes after him. These pictures could not be duplicated except by re-photographing them and going through the process all over again.

In the early 1930’s Joseph Ulano advanced the screen printing process by developing a spray on lacquer to spray on a hard surface, peel this thin lacquer layer off, cut an image out of the stencil with special tools and apply it to the screen. This process is still used today but there are new materials used rather than lacquer. Silk screen-printing was very sophisticated stencil process. It was developed in 1900 and was first mainly used for advertising and display work. In the 1950, fine artists began to use this process and then this process was then given the name of serigraphy.

Andy Warhol began to use screen-printing to duplicate iconography in the late 20^th century. He used a picture of Marilyn Monroe from 1967 and put different color in the highlights of her face, gave the background a red-ish color, tinted her hair a blue and mustard color and her earrings were pink. He then did this process over and over again using different color in each place.

There were many patents that were given to people over time, as this screen printing process became more popular. Samuel Simon of England was granted a patent in 1907 for his "tieless stencil" design, which used coarsely woven silk fabric. This was an extremely intricate design that was glued to fabric. During WWI, screen-printing became a significant part of the industry and high quality signs were made in a short amount of time. An example of this was the "Uncle Sam" posters for recruiting men to the army. In 1924 Joseph Odajian from New York was issued a patent for a stencil apparatus.

There were several organizations once this process was very popular. This first was called the Screen-Printing Process Association, International which was developed in 1948. This association standardized products and motivated good printing. Then in 1965 they changed their name to Screen-Printing Association, International. And in 1973 the Academy of Screen Printing Technology was created for technical authorities to represent the highest technological expertise in screen-printing.

There are seven main types of screen printing processes. They are block, stencil or spray, batik, discharge, resist, photographic and roller machine printing. There are stencils that are used and the oldest on is a hand cut stencil which uses pieces of thin paper that is cut and glued to the underside of the screen. This blocks ink from the non-image area and is very time consuming process and the paper wears out quickly. The thermofax stencil is used in offices for overhear transparencies. Both are fed through a machine and it burns away the image areas. The tusche-and-glue stencil is a special liquid that is painted directly on the stencil and then is coated with special glue. After it dries the tusche is removed and the open areas are ready for ink to pass through. William Henry Fox Talbot discovered that glue, egg albumin and gelatin harden when expose to light and he then created the photographic stencil in 1850. This emulation was light sensitive material that reacted to light and the parts that didn’t receive the light remained soft. When the negative was developed on this photographic paper the areas that received light turned black and the other areas stayed white or turned clear.

There are two basic screen fiber; naturally made fabrics (multifilimant: silk and cotton) and manmade fabrics (monofiliment: polyester). Monofiliment fibers were very smooth so the screen had to roughen prior to the application of the emulsion to that the stencil will adhere. Screens were made of silk gauze, synthetic gauze (nylon, polyester), wire gauze (phosphor, bronze), and a combination (nylon-copper, nylon-bronze).

Early inks were similar to regular paint but today there are different kinds of ink for different applications. For example the ink used for billboards has to be able to withstand the sun, rain, snow and the cold. Glass is grounded up into small crystals and added to ink so that it will reflect when a car light hits it at night. It is very important that there is optimal vicosicy, which is the resistance to flow. It can not be too thick or too thin because a finer mesh needs thinner ink. Egg yoke has a higher vicosity than water for example.

Squeegees are very important too because it is what you use to force the ink through the stencil. It can be made of rubber, plastic or polyurethane depending on what type of ink is used. Vinyl or acetate are water-soluble and will dissolve in water so that type of blade may not be good for water-based ink. The flexibility or hardness of the blade is important too and a Durometer measures it. The harder the blade is the thinner the layer of ink that is applied to the application. There are several types of blades that can be used for different material but all should be held at a 30-degree angle. Some examples of these blades are a single bevel, which is used to print on glass and a round edge, which is used to print on fabrics.

Many years ago wood frames were used for holding the screen printing stencil and fabrics. Today we use steel aluminum frames that will not rust. But such metals are scarce in developing countries and wood frames, with special wood joint, are used. There are many products and careers that are made by the screen printing process. Such things as curtains, banners, towels, plastics, fabrics, awards, cups, truck markings and bumper stickers. Screen-printing has come a long way and we see it’s uses everyday everywhere.