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Screen printing differs from digital printing in that it is print making as opposed to reproduction. There is more craft involved in this method and is certainly not obsolete since certain processes such as devoré can only be produced this way.
This is the traditional form of silk printing (as described in the previous pages) where we start with white silk and apply colour to it.
This form of printing involves dying the background colour (usually the darkest of the colour in the designs) with a “dischargeable” dye. The cloth is then laid on the table and printed in the normal way, however the print is very difficult to make out at this stage. Once completely dry, the cloth is put into the steamer and it is here that the “magic” occurs! The printed colour has been combined with a discharge agent and this bleaches out the background colour, enabling the new lighter colour to take its place. We use this technique for printing velvet which, if printed in the traditional way, would result in the white root of the pile “grinning through” a darker colour.
From the French “to devour” or eat away. The devoré fabric (often velvet) is woven with a silk net and viscose pile. The fabric is laid on the table and the design is printed, not with colour but with a special clear paste. When the fabric is baked in an oven, the paste attacks the viscose but leaves the silk net alone. The loose viscose is then washed away, revealing the design.
