PRINTING
VARIOUS FORMS OF PRINTING
What is the best print method for the product you need? Let our Graphic Consultants figure that out for you. If we know where and how the product is being used, we'll identify the best, most cost effective method.
WHAT IS SCREENPRINTING
Screen printing is one of the oldest forms of printing, practiced by the Chinese centuries ago. It is arguably the most versatile of all printing processes. 
It can be used to print a wide variety of substrates; including paper, paperboard, plastics, vinyl banners, vinyl decal, mylars, films, glass, metals, fabrics, and many other materials. See "Materals we print" for a few examples.
Some common products from the screen printing industry include posters, labels, decals, signage, all types of textiles, and electronic circuit boards, to name a few.
This allows for some very interesting effects that are not possibler using other printing methods
Because of the simplicity of the application process, a wider range of inks are available for use in screen printing than for use in any other printing process. This allows for some very interesting effects that are not possible using other printing methods.
A significant characteristic of screen printing is that a greater thickness 
of the ink can be applied to the substrate than is possible with other printing techniques.
Walk down any city street in America, or even in your own home, and you'll see examples of SCREEN PRINTING everywhere: in shops you see displays and posters advertising their products; you'll see buses with ads on the sides; on computers and hi-fi you'll notice badges and control panels, on windows there are static clings, and the keypad on your microwave at home; all of these have been screen printed.
Walk down any city street in America, or even in your own home, and you'll see examples of SCREEN PRINTING everywhere
In the home you will find that many textiles and items of clothing, sports bags and T shirts have been screen printed, as well as the stickers that you have on the rear window of your car.
Artists have also used SCREEN PRINTING, especially since the days of POP ART in the sixties - Andy Warhol , Rauschenberg and Hamilton are a few notorius examples. These artists opened up a whole new vista in the use of the screen process.
A Brief History of screen printing.
SILK SCREEN PRINTING has its origins in japanese stencilling, but the screen printing process that we know today probably stems from the patents taken out by Samuel Simon of Manchester at the turn of the century. 
He used silk stretched on frames to support hand painted stencils, a process also used by William Morris. In 1914 John Pilsworth of San Francisco also took out a patent for multicolor printing, using the screen process.
During the First World War in America, screen printing took off as an industrial printing process; it was mainly used at first for flags and banners but also for 'point of sale' or 'point-of-purchase' (POP) advertising in 'chain stores' of America, which were just appearing around that time.
Not long afterwards, the invention of the photographic stencil revolutionised the process; and in the following years, obvious improvements were made to the presses, inks and chemicals used.
Apart from the introduction of computer technology in the 1980's; in the control panels of presses, and more importantly 
the pre-press side of screen printing - very little has changed since.
New products enable processes to improve, and Sun Screenprinting is committed to making improvements that benefit the level of services and quality our customers require.
How does screen printing work?
The equivalent of the printing plate for the screen printer is the SCREEN - a wooden or aluminium frame with a fine nylon MESH stretched over it. The MESH is coated with a light sensitive emulsion or film, which - when dry - will block the holes in the mesh. The image that needs to be printed is output to film either by camera or image-setter. This film positive and the mesh on the screen are sandwiched together and exposed to ultra-violet light in a device called a print-down frame.
The screen is then washed with a jet of water which washes away all the light sensitive emulsion that has not been hardened by the ultra-violet light. This leaves you with an open stencil which corresponds exactly to the image that was supplied on the film. Now the screen is fitted on the press and is hinged so it can be raised and lowered.
The substrate to be printed is placed in position under the screen and ink is placed on the top side of the screen, (the frame acts also as wall to contain the ink ). A rubber blade gripped in a wooden or metal handle called a SQUEEGEE (not unlike a giant windshield wiper) is pulled across the top of the screen; it pushes the ink through the mesh onto the surface of the substrate you are printing. To repeat the process the squeegee floods the screen again with a return stroke before printing the next impression.
Items we print, to name a few...
Decals, Bumper Stickers, Fleet Markings, Floor Graphics, Magnetic, Die-Cut Labels, Point-of-Purchase, Posters, Banners, Signs, Static Clings, Reflective Decals, Window Graphics, Tags, Ceiling Danglers & Posters, Political Signage, Auto Tags, Aluminum Signs, Vehicle Graphics & Wraps, Equipment Decals, Extrusions and Hardware, Sun Screenprinting, original equipment markings, OEM, parking permits, Temporary Decals, Permanent Decals, Upgraded Adhesive, one-color, full-color, product displays, in-store advertising, Visual Graphics, manufacturer, magnetic signs, Plastics, Mylar, Static Cling Vinyl, Aluminum, Plexiglass, Banner Vinyl, Adhesive Materials, Poster Boards, Lexan, Polyolefin, Corroplast, Foam Boards, PVC, SGIA, Single Color, Multi-Color, LongRun, Short Run, Screen printing, Screenprinting, Commercial Screenprinting, Four-Color Process, Digital Printing, Graphic Design, Die Cutting, Over laminating, Mounting, Drilling, Round Cornering, Heat Bending, Velcro, Sewing, Grommeting, Adhesive Application, Pre-Masking, Doming, Shrink-Wrapping, Kit Fulfillment, Packaging,Custom, Shipping, VIP Decals, Tank Wraps, Logo Decals, Auto Tags, Visual Inspection Stickers, Stickers, Bus Wraps, Vehicle Wraps, Signs, Clear Decals, White, UV Inks, Indoor, Outdoor, Durability, Weatherproof, Window Decals, Die Cut Decals, Circle Decals, Backflow Tags, Log Book Decals, and a few others.
SCREEN PRINT FACT:
A significant characteristic of screen printing is that a greater thickness of the ink can be applied to the substrate than is possible with other printing techniques.
LOOK AROUND AND SEE
Walk down any city street in America, or even in your own home, and you'll see examples of SCREEN PRINTING everywhere.
COLOR MATCHING
Our Ink department can match to your designated Pantone Color or to a sample. We'll record the formula in our system.
