Art Print: fine art painting prints or art poster prints.

Screenprinting processes and applications.

Screenprinting provides ceramic and glass decorators and decal printers the means to transfer ceramic pigments, precious metals and other decorative materials onto ceramic and glass. Although the physical printing technique is similar to commercial graphics, the surface substrate, the use of ceramic inks and the specially prepared decal paper make the process unique to our industry.

According to a 1993 industry census report in Screenprinting Magazine, the commercial screenprinting of graphics is more than a $22 billion industry with approximately 70% of the sales in Canada and Mexico. Out of approximately 19,000 respondents, 74% had a sales volume [less than]a million dollars and 50% of that group had a sales volume of [less than]$100,000. Respondents in this 74% category averaged 2-19 employees.

The screenprinting of garments, signs and decals (mostly pressure sensitive, but some ceramic) represented the most consistently identified product and sales areas. U.S. decal sales, identified as the largest commercial graphics market, were approximately $5.7 billion. Note that the decal segment includes products like self-adhering labels, bumper stickers and other identification markings that may have been produced by nonprinting methods.

Supporting this industry growth were equipment and material advancements dealing with regulatory and compliance issues such as lead-free inks and nontoxic, user-friendly solvents and cleaners. Improved screen-fabric stability and durability, and more exacting fabric holding and tensioning devices have greatly contributed to tighter registration and more controlled printing. Cost-effective computerized art preparation has been instrumental in providing precision separations critical to obtaining a fine art print quality.

Screenprinting has traditionally been integral to many different ceramic and glass decorating transfer processes. The screen, prepared like a stencil, transfers the ceramic inks directly onto the object (direct printing) or onto a intermediate surface used to transfer the ink to the object to be printed (indirect printing).

The chinaware industry has been particularly innovative in adapting the screen and frame assembly to print directly onto flat, cylindrical and complex-curved surfaces. The same transfer method (mechanical printing setup) cannot be used for all items because of the irregular contour and size of the flatware and hollowware shapes. It is true that every piece can be decorated with the direct screenprinting process (providing acceptable adaptation and placement of the design), however, positioning the ware for printing, screen alignment within the frame and the mechanical action of the squeegee are different. Direct printing the exterior of a flat-walled cylindrical mug or cup, for instance, requires a screen stretched flat in a rectangular frame (conventional screen mounting), but to print the rim of a 10-in. plate or the inside wall of a coupe soup requires a completely different screen stretching and mounting arrangement. The design printed on the coupe soup requires some modification because of a more restricted printing area. In this case, the coupe soup screen is stretched and mounted in a circular frame with a center device which contours the screen to the angle and depth of the sidewall to be printed.

The equipment used to direct print the exterior of cylindrical items, the interior of round items or the flat area of a hot plate tile is also all different. Cylindrical items are placed in vacuum chum beneath the screen, which rotates by the action and pressure of the squeegee or more precisely by a geared cam. The 10-in. plate and coupe soup mentioned above are placed on a pedestal centering device, which raises up under the screen into correct off-contact printing position. The squeegee, driven from a center gear drive, rotates 360 [degrees] around the inside of the screen. The flat tile is positioned in a table fixture and printed using conventional screen-mounting and printing methods.

More sophisticated indirect screenprinting methods provide greater precision and multiple-color registration control. The balm or pad-print process incorporates conventional screen mounting and printing of the decoration onto an intermediate surface, i.e., glass or ceramic tile. A molded silicon pad or balm is then pressed down onto the screenprinted decoration removing it from the intermediate surface and transferring it to the pad. The pad is extremely soft and pliable, so when pressed against the ware or object it easily conforms to the surface. Upon complete surface contact with the object to be decorated, the imprint is transferred 100% from the pad to the printing surface. There are different configurations of this concept involving use of multiple heads as well as different inking systems.

Decal printing is often taken for granted as an indirect process because of its conventional application of screenprinting techniques. The end water-slide product is easily applied and provides one method for transferring decorations onto most shapes. It's hard for decorators to appreciate the expertise and technology used by professional decal printers to arrive at perfectly registered four-color process prints that fire up to exacting specifications.

Going beyond the prescribed controls for quality screenprinting and thinking as an artist and potter, the process provides for the incorporation of artistic talents with the ceramic process. As the chinaware decorator creatively applies his knowledge of screenprinting to print beyond the accepted norm, so should the decorator exploit the process to grow product capabilities and market niche.

A creative use of the process is to think of the screen as a canvas, as a painter would, and develop images spontaneously with brushes, pencils and make-shift tools to shape ideas.

Perhaps these seem like wild and crazy ideas, but today's product trends are moving toward the hand-crafted, casual, simple and unique. Consumers are building a total home lifestyle environment to satisfy their business, recreational, family entertainment and social requirements.

Decorators are designing multifunctional products that mix and match with these requirements. Cross merchandising is the sales technique used to promote this product-utilization concept of displaying glass, ceramic, wood, plastic and fabric products together. Consumers, now more than ever, are becoming their own decorators.

Artprint4u.com find out some printing terms useful in Art Prints.