Asked and Answered: What’s Screen Printing? Do you do it?

Uncle Roy from Baltimore County writes in and asks, “I’m a little confused about screen printing? Is that what you do to those pretty windows in Baltimore City?”

Uncle Roy, you are a little confused! Yes, we’ve all seen those lovely painted screens, especially in East Baltimore, however, that is screen PAINTING, not screen PRINTING.

While we can’t help you if you want to paint your window screens, we most definitely CAN help if you are interested in screen printing, which we do here on our premises on Charles Street downtown.

By definition, screen printing is “a technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink onto a substrate through a screen of fine material.” That sounds complicated, and it sort of is; however, all you really need to know is that it is a way for us to put words or images or both onto things like t shirts, hoodies, masks, balloons, decals, posters, and lots of other cool stuff.

With screen printing, because there is set up involved in creating a “plate” for each color/image, putting your particular color ink in the machine, and then actually “printing” onto the substate, the more units you get, the lower the per unit price will be. It is not cost effective to just print one or two items with this technique. We usually prefer to print at least a dozen items at a time, so it makes sense for both of us.

Please think of us the next time you need something screen printed!

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