Behind The Scenes – How Fabrics Are Printed: Automation
AUTOMATION
Continuing the discussion of how plain fabrics are printed – in this last post of the series, I show how automation is used for screen printing. A few short videos are included too for a better understanding. These beautiful prints are produced quicker, thanks to some pricey equipment.
AUTOMATED FLAT BED SCREEN PRINTING
See the fun little 2 minute video of automated flatbed screen printing at the Marimekko factory in Helsinki, Finland. With automation you can produce more fabric in a shorter period of time although the equipment investment is costly.
Each successive cylinder is able to hold a different screen for each part of the overall pattern because the fabric moves under the rollers instead of the screen needing to be picked up and moved down the table of stationary fabric. Color is piped to the cylinder from paint containers placed next to them. Rotary prints are far less expensive than flat bed screen prints. Of course other factors such as the cost of the cloth contribute to the pricing as well.
ROTARY SCREEN PRINTING
The screens are wrapped around a cylinder and rotate the ink onto a fabric that moves below the rotary system. This method achieves high speed production and can make some nice fabrics although the print quality is less and the pattern repeat is limited by the size of the cylinders. They can typically hold screens up to 24″. For very large repeats the design will need to be executed on a flat bed screen. Many large floral patterns exceed this size and are therefore flat screen printed.
I’m ending this post with two beautiful images of beautiful large floral patterns that have been hand silk screened. The stunning Serendip in Nuit by Paris fabric house, Manuel Canovas.
This pattern has a whopping 55.75″ repeat due to the detail and variety within the design.
And above, the delightful Mathilde in Coral, also from Manuel Canovas. This pattern has a 37″ repeat.
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