Screen printing, silk screen or serigraphy is a process of forcing ink through a screen mesh. Various types of stencils can be applied to the screen, and these stencils block the passage of ink according to the artist’s design. Screen printing is highly chromatic and allows for almost endless layering of ink on top of ink. Each layer of ink is binary- either it prints or it doesn’t- but the color, body and opacity of each layer is endlessly customizable. Opaque inks can be layered on top of each other, the new ink nearly obliterating the layers of ink beneath. Transparent inks can be layered, allowing multiple layers to interact and create new visible colors. The printer can print two colors and reveal three, the first and second individually and the third of their combination. 

The Screen Print Color Proofing Grid is a tool designed for the scientific, regimented exploration of layering color in screen printing. The grid of 64 squares shows each of 64 possible permutations of six layers of screen printing. It is used as a definition, a printer’s standard while exploring specific ink mixtures geared towards different projects and artists’ palettes. The master printmaker can provide a true and accurate example of final color results before the artist’s design work is applied, allowing the artist to create freely within a color gamut of their choosing.

Artists who work with Julia Samuels at Overpass Projects enjoy the use of this Screen Print Color Proofing Grid as they choose their own papers, spot colors and layer orders. Here are some examples that help explain the system and are satisfying graphic examples in their own right.

Also by Julia Samuels