What Is Silk-Screen “Serigraph” Printing?
Silk-screen “serigraph” printing has been used only since the early 20th century. It’s name derives from the Serian people to whom Europe owes the discovery of silk. In the beginning, raw silk gauze was used for the screens, today a fine-meshed polyester fabric has replaced silk. In silk-screen “serigraph” printing a metal frame, which has a polyester screen stretched across one side, serves as printing form. The artist inks this screen (with pencils, a brush or a sprayer) with gum Arabic, glue or cellulose varnish. For the printing process the artist covers all those parts on to which the ink is supposed not to penetrate. We can, thus, compare the screen to a stencil, which is partially covered. For the printing process the paper is put underneath the screen, leaving a gap of about 3 millimeters between the paper and the screen. The screen is covered with a little ink, which is spread by means of a squeegee, a handle with a rubberedge. The pressure exerted by the squeegee forces the i
