The silk screen or screen print technique is a method whereby colour in powdered form is forced by hand or mechanically through a very fine silk, fabric or metal mesh onto the object that is to be decorated. The areas of the screen where the colour should not pass through are blocked off by a stencil, thus creating the desired design.

After the Second World War photo-stencils were used. The screen was coated with a light sensitive emulsion on which the decoration was projected. The parts of the coating exposed to light hardened, the parts not exposed to light did not and could be rinsed out. Thus the desired decoration appeared in the form of a stencil in the mesh. Next, the colour was forced through the screen onto the object to be decorated. This method made it possible to decorate ceramics in serial production. Silk screen designs were usually put over the glaze.