1. What is Giclée?

The word 'Giclée' is associated with :
1) fine art reproduction PROCESS and
2) the product of the process which is PRINT. Giclee PROCESS is based on digital technology. 'Giclée' is a French word meaning "to squirt or spurt." The Giclée printer squirts over 4 million microscopic droplets of ink per second onto canvas or paper.
Giclee PRINT is a superior quality reproduction which became most popular in the past decade.

2. What is the advantage of Giclée Prints comparing to other fine art reproduction techniques?

Giclée printers use archival inks which make the archival properties of giclées much higher than lithography or silkscreen prints. Pigmented inks we use in our printers have a light fastness rating up to 200 years. Not only Giclees are going to last longer then we live their visual quality is also undeniably greater which makes it hard sometimes to distinct giclees the originals.

3. How long are my prints are going to last?

Prints must not be exposed to direct sunlight just as any original artwork. Under normal lighting conditions, our inks will not show noticeable fading for at least 200 years.

HISTORY OF GICLEE :

Long before the word Giclee was first used there were artists who begun using ink-jet technology for their reproduction purposes as an alternative to lithography and serigraphy.

Then in the mid 1980s Graham Nash and Jon Cone noticed the high quality of the Iris ink-jet printers output. They developed inks that gave fine art reproductions the longevity and color gamut they deserve. Iris printer became the first one associated with museum quality fine art.
In the early 1990s Jack Duganne introduced the word 'giclée' as a new term describing digital prints used as fine art versa commercial digital prints.

Since then giclee technology rapidly developed and became number one choice for fine art reproduction by publishers, galleries, artists, and photographers.

Different manufacturers of printers and print media working very hard on improving their product contributing tremendously into the rapid increase of Giclee prints quality.

In 2001 the Giclee Printers Association (GPA) was formed. It came up with certain standards that distinct highest quality giclee print from lower quality ink-jet print. The term: "Tru Giclee" created by GPA means highest quality. The GPA is approved a pretty short list of printing materials and equipment that qualifies to bear its logo.

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Giclée printing technique has become very popular in the past decade among artists, galleries, and publishers. The major advantage of this technique is that it's not going to cost you a fortune just to reproduce your own artwork. It is on-demand printing.

A Giclée, is individually produced so there is no need to manufacture a huge edition of prints like in lithography or silkscreen techniques. You can order one print at a time and enjoy much better quality!

Our Giclée printers use high end archival inks which make the archival properties of Giclée's much higher than lithography prints. The pigmented inks of Giclée's have a light fastness rating up to 200 years.

Museum quality Giclée reproductions are difficult to distinct from the original.
The dot-pattern of these prints is invisible to the naked eye. Under extreme magnification the print quality can be seen to be the equivalent of the very finest printing. And the artist responsible for achieving perfect tonal balance and color fidelity in these fine-art reproductions is the same artist who created these delicate qualities in the first place. These are among the most accurate, most archival prints available anywhere.

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Here at Gicléehouse.com we use HP printers to create amazing prints from either your original work or a scan of it. Giclée's can be printed on various types of media, from canvas to watercolor paper and are superior to other types of prints. The colors are fade resistant and very bright. The dot gain is so great - the printed image becomes continuous tone versa dotted regular ink-jet print. The range of color and the depth of the details for Giclée's are far beyond then that of lithography. The secret of the new printer is the combination of the Archival Pigment Inks and Archival paper which together ensures light fastness for over 100 years and up to 200 years in ideal lighting conditions.

Our online gallery features artists who release their limited edition prints with help from Gicléehouse.com. Each print is genuine museum quality Giclée and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Do you need a Certificate of Authenticity to go along with your print? Ii is not mandatory, but it will definitely help to justify a high price on your Limited Edition Giclee Print. It gives information about Copyright ownership, attributes of the limited edition like image title & size, number in the edition, media, release date, publisher name, printer name, etc.

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Stretching is an established method in finalizing art work and a wonderful choice for any print.

Using a high quality frame, the print is stretched and bound to the sides of the frame using the same technique an artist would use for an original work of art.

Professionally stretched with care, your print will have a traditional and classic look.

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We always add a varnish layer to protect the print. It can be a subtle satin varnish or a more glossy finish. For a more dramatic gloss finish, a UV cured coating is applied. A varnish giclée will increase the richness of the colors in the print as well as increase the contrast between the dark and the light areas.

Canvas varnish protects and preserves the giclee prints by inhibiting harmful Ultraviolet light from burning out optical brightener additives and other fluorescent whitening additives, which inhibits the inkjet canvas and/or fine art paper from "yellowing". Canvas varnish also protects against moisture and abrasion.

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GALLERY WRAP
A Gallery Wrap is the perfect choice for artists when presenting their work. Using a technique where the canvas is stretched and wrapped around the sides of the stretcher bars and bound to the back of the frame, a Gallery Wrap has a smooth flawless appearance. Hardware such as staples and tacks are not visible. The outer edge of each side of the image is cloned and then mirrored to create a harmonious transition around the entire frame.

GALLERY WRAP & FLOATER FRAME
A Gallery Wrap with Floater Frame is a fantastic choice for a frameless presentation, but also looks beautiful with a floater frame. A floater frame does not cover the edge of the painting, giving the painting the illusion that is floating within the frame. This allows for a framed piece of art while still showing off a beautiful Gallery Wrap.

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The price range of giclee prints presented in our galley is broad. Fine art professional will not find it odd, while collectors and first time art buyers might wonder where these prices come from. Giclee editions industry is fairly new comparing to the conventional limited editions industry. Therefore the price structure is new.

Ultimately the prices are decided upon by a publisher and an artist. The final numbers are based on the edition size, print size, artist's visibility on the market and sales history, and other minor variables.

Generally giclees are more expensive then posters and less expensive then original, excluding some old unique collectible posters. Unknown artists, who's original have small value, some times find that the prices of theirs giclees almost reach the range of the prices of their originals. Limited Editions are more expensive then Open Editions, since Limited Editions present elite scheme of numbering, hand signing and certifying the prints.

The prices between photography giclee and giclee reproduced from paintings are not different. They still depend on the artist's career point, edition number and print size.

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