Hmmm, perhaps your screens are bronze that has aged to that beautiful dark blackish-green color of old bronze? If the screens are in fine condition why would you replace them, unless they are clogged with paint? If they are truly clogged I would just replace the screening, which is not hard to do, but does take some practice to get them really tight. Bronze screening is expensive (but worth it in my opinion because it gets to be such a nice dark color), but if you invested in a roll, that would lower the price some. You can find it on-line by googling, I'm sure.

Have you tried just scrubbing the screens with a stiffish brush? It's remarkable how much gunk accumluates over time. Vaccuum first, then scrub briskly with lots of water.

HTH

MOlly

If the screening material is still in good condition, and not rusted out, it might be something other than steel wire. In that case, the excess paint can be stripped and the screen should clean up OK. When repairing/rebuilding screens, I like to use the grey coated fiberglass material. It looks good, and lasts for many years, even in Wisconsin.

I wish it was aged bronze. the screens definitely have layers of paint, the same black and green paint that i can see from paint chipping on the window frame. i would rather not replace the screens, but get them back to their original state. i have not tried anything yet to get the paint off, but will try the stiff brush and stripping, and see if that works. any tips on how to use paint stripper on a screen? thanks for the replies

Back in olden times, before there was fiberglass screen, galvanised steel screen, or even aluminum screen, there was painted steel screen. You evidently have a real relic there.
Used to be you could buy screen paint at the hardware store, it was blended so as to not clog the mesh. It's very likely that their original state was, in fact, painted black or dark green.
Casey