Home Serigraphs Giclee Prints Reproductions The Artist Originals Books
SERIGRAPH (SILK SCREEN PRINTING)
A Serigraph is a multicolour printing technique that originated in America. Since the first exhibition of Serigraphs at the New York World Fair in 1939 it has become a widely accepted medium for artists to create original prints.
The name “Serigraph” indicates an artist’s hand-made original screen-print as distinguished from screen-printing work executed in an industrial or purely reproductive manner.
The method uses stencils. The designs are placed on a piece of fine mesh fabric (originally silk, hence the name “silk screen” printing) attached to a wooden or metal frame; various film-forming materials, as well as hand-cut film stencils and photo-sensitive emulsions, are used as resists. The frame is about two inches deep so that it forms a box with the screen fabric constituting the bottom. Colour in the correct semi liquid consistency is then poured into the frame, the frame is placed in contact with the surface to be printed, and the ink is wiped over the stencil with a squeegee, forcing it through the mesh of the uncoated areas of the fabric on to the paper below. The paper is then replaced with a clean sheet and the process repeated. For each separate colour in the printed image the screen is changed and the paper is carefully realigned and printed, being allowed to dry between colour applications. Gradually the image is built up through a series of generally monochrome designs.
Ref: “The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques” Ralph Mayer