Screenprinting and TEI: Supporting Engagement with STEAM through DIY Fabrication of Smart Materials

This paper focuses on manual screenprinting as a DIY fabrication technique for embedding interactive behavior onto a rage of substrates such as paper, fabric, plastic, wood, or vinyl. We frame screenprinting as a process that operates at the intersection of art, technology, and material science and iteratively examine its potential in two STEAM contexts. We conducted youth and adult workshops whereby participants worked with our low-cost thermochromic, UV-sensitive, and conductive screenprinting inks to develop a range of concepts and final projects. Our findings highlight several unique features of screenprinting: it affords a low barrier to entry for smart material fabrication, supports a collaborative maker practice, and scaffolds creative engagement with STEAM concepts. By being widely-accessible and substrate-agnostic, screenprinting presents exciting opportunities for TEI: DIY fabrication of smart materials in domains such as fine arts, information visualization, and slow technology; and bridging diverse disciplines through STEAM screenprinting initiatives at youth and adult levels.