Are Silk Screening and Screen Printing the Same Thing?

You might be wondering what the difference is between silk screening and screen printing for your custom t-shirts. Read here to learn all about these processes.

Did you know that a 58-year-old silkscreen print by Andy Warhol sold for $195 million just a few months back? This gave Andy Warhol the title of the world's most expensive American artist. 



If you were interested in silk screening, then you would have noticed that sometimes people use the term screen printing interchangeably with silk screening. Are they the same thing? Keep reading to find out more. 

The Origins of Silk Screening

Silk screening, the predecessor of modern-day screen printing, began as early as 960 AD in China's Song dynasty. The reason it was called silk screening was that back then, a silk screen was used for printing. As the method became popular, it spread throughout Asia to Japan and then to European countries and America. 

Silk screening became really popular in the 20th century because artists like Andy Warhol started using it to create beautiful artwork in the 1960s. 

The only reason it isn't called silk screening any longer is that as time went on, the price of silk rose exponentially (ranging from $8 to $80 per yard, depending on the quality). And it became too expensive to use silk to make modern screens. Nowadays, polyester and nylon are used to make the screen for printing. 

Thus, the name transformed to screen printing rather than silk screening. But they are both referring to the same practice of using a screen to print onto fabric. 

Modern-Day Screen Printing Method

The first step to screen printing is creating the stencil that you will use to print on the fabric. Depending on the design and colors you choose, you might have to create more than one stencil.

There are two distinct ways to create the stencil.

The traditional paper stencil is created using freezer paper or adhesive paper. If you are DIY-ing your shirts at home, then you are probably going to use a traditional paper stencil to do that. You would create the design you want, cut it out neatly, and voila, you have your first stencil. 

Modern screen printers use a photo emulsion process to create stencils. Here are the steps to it:

1. Print or create the design on a transparent overlay
2. Create a mesh screen where your design will get placed
3. Place the design on top of the mesh screen and expose it to UV light
4. Rinse the mesh screen and finish

Essentially, the design is there to block parts of the mesh from the UV light. This prevents the emulsion underneath from hardening. The unhardened emulsion is washed away in the final step revealing the stencil underneath. 

There are also three different screen printing methods to pay attention to:

• Direct-to-Garment Digital Printing
• Dye Sublimation
• Heat Press Printing

Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, but that's beyond the scope of this article. 

Advantages of Screen Printing

It might seem complicated, but screen printing is actually the easiest and fastest way to print on a wide variety of materials, fabrics, and garments. There is a reason why t-shirt manufacturers like us use screen printing for t-shirt printing and more. 

It’s Very Versatile

No matter what fabric, garment, or material you are printing on, you can use screen printing for the print job. That makes it one of the most versatile and, thus, the most popular way to do modern digital printing. 

If you have t-shirts, then it will work on that. But if you want to print on wood, glass, electronics, or posters, you can use screen printing for that. 

You can also many different kinds of inks and colors to do your printing. That is, you can use water-based inks or discharge ink, or even foil to create interesting designs while printing. 

It’s Great for Large Orders

The reason we use screen printing on promotional t-shirts and other materials like that is that screen printing is perfect for large orders. Actually, it's better if you have a larger order than a small one. 

This is because every time you create a new design, a new stencil (or many stencils, depending on the number of colors) and a new mesh screen gets created. Once this is set up, you can print as many t-shirts as you want. It gets cheaper the more t-shirts you print. 

The Quality of the T-Shirts Produced Is High

Finally, if you were thinking that screen printing seems to have limitless printing possibilities, you are absolutely right. This versatility and limitlessness are what create high-quality prints. 

Since each t-shirt or design is screen printed by hand and with the utmost care, the quality that comes out every time is impeccable. You will also be surprised by how long the print lasts and how it stays vibrant for much longer. 

This is in comparison to digital printing, which is done without a mesh screen and stencil. If you speak to anyone in the printing industry, they will rave about how screen printing is the best way to do modern digital printing. There is no other method of printing that compares to it. 

Ready to Order Your Apparel From Us?

Now that you are aware of the basics of silk screening or screen printing, you might be wondering about getting some apparel, t-shirts, or other promotional materials printed by us. Dynamic Designs are an expert in creating promotional products for businesses of all kinds that will catch the attention of your potential leads or clients. 

Get a free quote for the promotional materials you wish to get printed, customized, or not. If you can think of it, we can design it!