The Studio 8 Graphics' Logo. This embossed impression on every print which issues from our shop marks the print exclusively as our handiwork.
A Note About Serigraphy/Screen Printing
Silkscreen printing, or serigraphy, is a stencil art. The fabric from which this printmaking medium derives its name merely serves to keep the stencil in place. What matters are the elements that resist the passage of ink through the fabric , the negative areas around the open lines and shapes. And as for the fabric, polyester and nylon, by virtue of their greater strength and dimensional stability, have rendered silk obsolete. So the name is somewhat of a misnomer. "Screen printing " would be a more accurate term.
The printing itself is accomplished by sweeeping the ink across the surface of the screen with a rubber or urethane squeegee with sufficient pressure to keep the screen in contact with the substrate. Where the stencil is open, ink reaches the surface to be printed on. Each discrete colour is printed separately on the entire run of the edition. Characteristically a completed image is built up over the course of multiple applications of colour, anywhere from just a few to dozens, depending on the nature of the subject and the effect sought by the artist. The inks used range from completely opaque to completely transparent, so that a large number of apparent colours arise through overprinting a small number of transparent or semi-opaque colours.
The stencils can be primitive paper cutouts, or cut film adhered to the fabric or, more commonly these days, formed directly in the fabric with a light-sensitive emulsion, which hardens on exposure. Typically, in the latter case, the stencil is a negative contact print from a positive original image drawn in a light-opaque medium such as india ink on clear or translucent film. The areas shielded from the light by the drawn marks remain water soluble and are washed away to become the printable image and the hardened areas form the stencil. Any mark made by virtually any instrument using any technique can yield a printable stencil.
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