Stencil Film's Faithful Fine Art Reproduction

MacDermid Autotype is enabling a Dutch screen printer working in India to create large format prints from original works of art with its indirect stencil film.

According to MacDermid Autotype, the film's balanced combination of resolution and versatility means that the prints can be created quickly and consistently, allowing tight schedules to be met with no effect on print quality.

The printer, Peter Wilms, started his own screen printing business 20 years ago and has worked with many European artists, creating interpretations of their work.

Wilms left the Netherlands for India, setting up Art and Design Development (ADD), which is now an established printing company working with painters and artists from around the world and employing 20 people.

The screen printing method used by Wilms involves repainting by hand each of the colours of the original work of art on to an individual sheet of specially-designed transparent film to create positives.

The positives are transferred photographically on to a stencil film and the colour separations brought together using the printing process to create a complete image that represents the original.

With the film substrates such an integral part of the process, choosing the right material was vital to Wilms, said MacDermid Autotype.

The film had to be capable of conveying his craftsmanship and that of his team on short runs of prints as large as 80cm x 100cm, which is why he chose the Autotype Five Star indirect stencil film.

Indirect films is claimed to enable stencils to be created quickly and simply for short run screen printing where quality is a priority.

Autotype Five Star is a red gelatine indirect film designed to balance resolution with ease of use, so that whilst definition is high enough for the smallest details to remain visible, the need for spotting to eradicate scratches and dust spots is minimised, said the company, which is essential for Wilms.

Autotype Five Star film was also chosen because it is able to represent the extremely vivid colours used by the printers to produce the level of aesthetic quality required.

Autotype Five Star film is for use with screens with medium to fine mesh counts, from 77 per centimetre - 150 per centimetre, whilst enabling stencils to be produced that combine a low EOM and a low Rz value to result in consistently accurate printing.

MacDermid Autotype said that Peter Wilms' printers are performing up to 30 runs for each print, resulting in finished art works that feature tones running in to each another in the same way as the original oil, acrylic, or water colours.

The level of quality is so high that Wilms sees the prints as independent pieces of art in their own right, as opposed to direct reproductions, having evolved from the original works.

Back to top