Screen printing has become the heart and soul of various bulk printing works in this era. Another name for the silk painting is the silk screen printing or silk screening. So what is this? It is the method of transferring the design onto the surface utilising the mesh screen, squeegee and ink. The firms or the textile sector use mostly fabric or paper for screen printing. But now many people use this printing type on plastic, wood and metal surfaces.
Screen printing is one of the popular means because of various reasons. Besides all the reasons, the vast choice of colour palettes makes it the best pick.
Fully & Semi-Automatic Screen Printing Machine
Before moving towards the different types of screen printing techniques, let us talk about the kinds of screen printing machines. The two most popular are:
· Fully automatic
· Semi-Automatic
Fully Automatic Screen Printing Machine
It is a machine that does all the screen printing functions without manual intervention. So, this consists of loading, loading the substrate, print curing and ink application.
Semi-Automatic Screen Printing Machine
This type of machine does not perform all the steps automatically. What does it mean? It means it requires some manual help. So, semi-automatic machines can unload and load the substrate automatically, but the operator needs to apply the ink manually and also cure the ink.
If you would like to buy any of the above-stated machines for screen printing, then learn more here.
Different Types of Screen Printing Techniques
There are six kinds of screen printing methods. However, the results vary depending on the type of method.
1. SPOT COLOUR SCREEN PRINTING
It is the most common method of screen printing. This method of screen printing utilises the ink stock colour by printing it via mesh stencil. This method offers a vibrant, deep colour spot. It is the best pick for printing hoodies, jackets and t-shirts.
- Halftone printing
The type printing method uses various densities and dot sizes to make the fallacy of different shades of colour. So, the halftone printing method is best for printing photos and other shots with a broad spectrum of shades.
- Grayscale printing
It is a halftone printing method that uses one colour of ink to make the fallacy of various shades of grey. This type of printing is best for printing black and white photos and other pictures.
4. DUOTONE PRINTING
Duotone printing combines 2 halftones for printing an image with 2 shades. The first try is to use black ink to print the halftone. After that, colour ink is used for the 2nd halftone. So, this method is the same as sepia-tone in photos.
5. CMYK (Four-COLOR PRINTING)
You can tag it with complex printing methods. Why is that so? It is because it consists of 4 basic shades: Black, yellow and magenta. This method blends four colours to produce the desired shades or colour tones.
- SIMULATED PROCESS PRINTING
This method blends the 4-colour printing method with spot colour screen printing. As this method is great for darker and lighter shades, it is famous and versatile for people searching to create photorealistic print pieces.