Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas.
silk screen is produced by applying each color to the metal base ,using a ” Laser screen” process. A very thin epoxy coat protects the color material from scratching.
Screen printing is also a stencil method of print making in which a design is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface. It is also known as Screen Printing, silkscreen, seriography, and serigraph.
At present, production of a variety of processes lapel pins, printed-pins, especially Silk screen printing process, because of it is cheap, short time, still very popular.
Screen printing process is as follows:
Making screen plate (painted draft, system backplanes, network selection, stretching, coating (paste) Photographic film)
Printing material preparation (cutting, pre-press processing, location)
Screen Printing → drying →epoxy coating → Testing → Packaging
In the production process, the most important was the “system backplanes,” “pre-work” and “making the screen version of” three processes. Plate-making process determines the quality of the printing lapel pins.
We also need to be reminded of some attention points:
1. Screen printing is only suitable for relatively simple patterns that lapel pin, and if there is gradient of color graphics can not.
2. Insignia of the thickness of the size of the printing is generally 0.8mm, material generally made of Silk screen , bronze.
3. To effect a good quality print lapel pins, could provide more clarity of the original Silk screen
Silk screening as a convenient way of printing, widely used in various industries. In our custom lapel pins industry, mainly has the following several applications
screening pins that is, the surface of a variety of colors printed directly on the pins belongs to the whole class pins printing
Imitation enamel with silk screening: imitation enamel pins because the surface is smooth and can be printed directly
Soft enamel with silk screening: paint surface uneven, can not be directly printed, need to add a layer of epoxy, flatten the surface after printing, good print after a thin layer of epoxy coating.
Silk screening is more fast than offset printing for any small quality pins. More and more baseball trading pins need silkscreen the numbers or any small details as it’s tiny for coloring.