MOODBOARD

My moodboard on screen printing; what it is, and what it involves.

PRINT PROCESSES

RESEARCH ON PRINT PROCESSES

There are lots of different types of print processes that are useful for mass production.

SCREEN PRINTING

This printing technique is suited for flat or relatively flat surfaces. It is most commonly used for t-shirts, garments, mugs and other fabrics ranging from plastic to metal. The process involves a mesh or screen that is tightly stretched around a rigid frame. The areas that are not to be printed are masked out on the screen.  To create the print, the framed screen is positioned over the item to be printed along with a dollop of thick ink. A squeegee is then used to press the ink through the screen. The masked areas prevent ink from pass through, but the unmasked areas allow the ink to be imprinted. Then finally the product is sent on a conveyor belt through a heat tunnel. This ensures it dries very quickly and can be packaged. This technique would be very useful to mass-produce postcards as it is a quick process that doesn’t take long and you are able to print on a variety of promotional items. Also, screen-printing allows many prints to be created before a reapplication of ink is needed.

STOCHASTIC SCREENING

Stochastic screening, also known as FM Screening, is a halftone process based on pseudo-random distribution of halftone dots, using Frequency Modulation to change the density of dots according to the gray level desired. An FM screen utilises more halftone dots than an AM/XM screen. A result of FM screening is that more light is filtered by the ink and less light simply reflects off the surface of the substrate. Advantages of this technique are that halftone dots can be as fine as 10 micrometers, which would give the product a quality comparable to that of photographic prints. If I was to use this to mass-produce postcards I would have good quality prints of photographic quality.

OFFSET PRINTING

Offset printing is the most commonly used printing method to this day. It uses three cylinders to transfer the image onto the substrate. The first cylinder is mounted with the printing plate. The image on the printing plate is ‘right’ reading or written with the right side up. The first cylinder is inked and the image transferred or offset onto the second cylinder, which is mounted with a rubber blanket. The image on the second cylinder is thus reversed or becomes ‘wrong’ reading. Finally the image is transferred from the blanket cylinder onto the third cylinder or the substrate. The substrate is mounted on the third cylinder also known as the impression cylinder. The image once again is reversed and becomes ‘right’ reading or right side up in the final printed version. A unique characteristic of offset printing is that the image and non-image areas are on the same surface level. 

LETTERPRESS PRINTING

This is relief printing. This involves locking movable type into the bed of a press, inking it, and rolling or pressing paper against it to form an impression. The only disadvantage with this is that you have to wait for the ink to dry once finalised. However, the ink can constantly keep being re-used before another application of it is necessary.  This process is more consuming than offset printing, resulting in higher cost. Several methods have been developed to make the process more efficient.

THERMOGRAPHY

Thermography produces raised printing similar in appearance to engraving but using a completely different process. In thermography, a special powder is added to the document with it adhering to the ink printed on the paper. After removing the excess powder the printed piece is heated and the powder and ink mixture dries to form a raised effect on the paper.  Thermography is often used In place of the more expensive engraving process to produce wedding invitations, business cards, letterhead and postcards.