In art and textiles we have been screen printing. I will use this technique as part of my identity piece. these are the steps of screen printing.
A screen print is made of a piece of porous, finely woven fabric called mesh is stretched over a frame of aluminium or wood. Originally silk was used, now most of the mesh is made of nylon. Areas of the screen are blocked off with a stencil, which is a negative of the image to be printed; that is, the open spaces are where the ink will appear.
An image on the screen can also be created by a photographic process. Whereby a screen has a photographic image printed on to it in negative.
The screen is placed on top of paper of fabric. Ink is placed on top of the screen. the operator then uses a squeegee (rubber blade) to squeeze ink through the mesh. the screen is lifted off leaving the ink on the paper or the fabric.
Textile items are printed in multi-colour designs using different stencils and screens.
If the design is no longer needed, then the screen can be reclaimed, that is cleared off all ink and used again. With water based inks, this is easily done by washing with water. The stencil is removed and thrown away.
