OUGD504 Design for print: Print Processes research

OUGD504 
DESIGN FOR PRINT
PRINT PROCESS RESEARCH

I sourced most of my information for my print book from theses two books as well as online resources.

The choice of print process is related to the choice of print materials. The main printing processes can be defined according to the printing surfaces used. Letter press is a relief process, where the image to be printed is above the background; this raised surface is inked by rollers and then pressed against the paper to make the impression.

Screen printing

The use of stencils to apply an image goes back centuries, but it was only at the beginning if the 20th century that this was allied to the use of a screen, giving the process its name. It is perhaps the most versatile of printing processes. Basically, it is the process of using a stencil to apply ink onto a substrate, whether it be t-shirts, posters, stickers, vinyl, wood, or other material.

Originally the screen was made of silk hence the name 'silk screen printing' in current times synthetic fibres such as nylon or polyester are used. the screen is stretched tightly over a a metal/wooden frame. Stencils and cut outs can be used to create basic shapes and patterns however the use of light sensitive coating on a screen allows people to expose art work such as photography or computer arts directly on to the screen which allows for a higher level of detail. Ink is then spread across the screen with the use of a rubber squeegee that squeezes the ink through the screen. The blocked areas of the screen do not allow the ink to pass through thus creating your desired art work.

Screen printing lends itself well to printing on canvas. Andy Warhol, Rob Ryan, Blexbolex, Arthur Okamura, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Harry Gottlieb, and many other artists have used screen printing as an expression of creativity and artistic vision.

The fact that the process can apply a very thick film of ink on to a large sheet makes it ideal for posters. Also, virtually any type of material can be printed on to such as wood, fabric, glass plastic and metal. screen printing is therefore used for metal signs, CDs, teeshirts, bottles, transfers and many more. 

Screen printing has a distinct appearance because of its thick ink. Although this is an advantage of most screen printed products it does however mean that small type does not always reproduce very sharply. Fine details of photography is also not well suited to this process, the nature of the course screen mess that halftone screens of 50 are normally the limit. Large bill boards are often printed in sections by screen printing but are viewed from a distance so the course screen is not visible to the naked eye. A huge advantage of screen printing is the wide array of colours you can make such as fluorescent and metallic.

Letter press.

Letter press was the main printing process used until 1970s when it was over taken by offset lithography and is essential now a redundant process within commercial use, however this doesn't hinder the amazing potential and beauty of the process.

Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing using a printing press. A worker composes and locks movable type into the bed of a press, inks it, and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type.

Composition, or typesetting, is the stage where pieces of movable type are assembled to form the desired text. The person charged with composition is called a "compositor".

Traditionally, as in manual composition, it involves selecting the individual type letters from a type case, placing them in a composing stick, which holds several lines, then transferring those to a larger type galley. By this method the compositor gradually builds out the text of an individual page letter by letter. In mechanical typesetting, it may involve using a keyboard to select the type, or even cast the desired type on the spot, as in hot metal typesetting, which are then added to a galley designed for the product of that process.

After a galley is assembled to fill a page-worth of type, the type is tied together into a single unit so that it may be transported without falling apart. From this bundle galley proof is made, which is inspected by a proof-reader to make sure that the particular page is accurate.

The working of the printing process depends on the type of press used, as well as any of its associated technologies (which varied by time period).

Hand presses generally required two people to operate them: one to ink the type, the other to work the press. Later mechanized jobbing presses require a single operator to feed and remove the paper, as the inking and pressing are done automatically.

The completed sheets are then taken to dry and for finishing, depending on the variety of printed matter being produced. With newspapers, they are taken to a folding machine. Sheets for books are sent for bookbinding.