What is a giclee?
[Top] Giclee is a printing method, and the word Giclee means droplets of ink. In Giclee printing, the prints are usually done on canvas or other special cotton papers. Giclee printing is a more accurate process that offset lithography. The original painting is scanned into the computer, then color corrected. The image is than outputted directly onto canvas by means of a high-resolution inkjet printer. The inks used in this process are pigmented and are guaranteed by the manufacturer to not fade for at least 200 years. This is a much slower printing process and more expensive, but the final result is a much higher quality reproduction than an offset lithograph.
Giclee is a french word meaning to spray. Ink-jet technology specifically for fine art reproduction. The ink-jet printer produces over four million droplets of ink, each second, that combine to form more than two thousand shades of color. The information controlling the jets comes directly from a computer – no printing film or plates are required. The computer’s information is scanned directly from the artist’s original work. This modern method of creating reproductions is gaining in popularity because of its ability to closely resemble the original.
The art of fine art printing has become even more precise with the revolutionary Giclee (zhee-clay) printing process. In the Giclee process, a fine stream of ink more than four million droplets per second is sprayed onto archival art paper or canvas. Each calculation of hue, value and density direct the ink from four or eight nozzles. This produces a combination of 512 chromatic changes, with over three million colors possible of highly saturated, non-toxic, water based ink. Since no screens are used in Giclee printing, the prints have a higher resolution than the lithographs and the dynamic color range is greater than serigraphy. The apparent resolution of the digital print is 1800 dots per square inch, which is higher than a traditional lithographic print and has a wider color gamut than serigraphy. Giclee prints render deep, saturated colors and have a beautiful painterly quality that retains minute detail, subtle tints and blends. Giclee Prints have an impressive exhibition record.
From the French word meaning “spray of ink”, a Giclee is a print created by using state of the art computer technology to reproduce images. By printing the image on media much like that used for the original usually either canvas or high-quality paper a piece of artwork stunningly similar to the original is created.
