The Giclée Art Print Process

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The Definition : Giclee (zhee-klay) - The French word "giclée" is a feminine noun that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The word may have been derived from the French verb "gicler" meaning "to squirt". 

The Term : The term  "giclée print" connotes an elevation in printmaking technology. Images are generated from high resolution digital scans and printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The giclée printing process provides better colour accuracy than other means of reproduction. 

The Process : Giclee prints are created typically using professional 8-Color to 12-Color ink-jet printers. Among the manufacturers of these printers are vanguards such as Epson, MacDermid Colorspan, & Hewlett-Packard. 

These modern technology printers are capable of producing incredibly detailed prints for both the fine art and photographic markets. Giclee prints are sometimes referred to as Iris prints, which are 4-Color ink-jet prints.

The paper may be on a long roll, thus the length can be quite wide as you desire, although the width may be still wide for most artists needs as 40 inches is still a good width for large image reproduction. 

One can make prints on all types of paper, especially somewhere between a mat finish to a slight textured paper, that gives a watercolour paper quality to. I find that 'Fabriano' 90 to 140 lb.paper is not to thin or thick and that is often the paper I use when I create watercolours. It's all up to ones' taste. Too rough and heavy of a paper may be fine for certain art styles as abstract, but not so for detailed realistic artwork or photograph reproducing from an original.  Also [as shown below] giclee prints can be done on canvas as done in painting to resemble that medium and it can be made any size as well. 

 

The Advantages : Giclee prints are advantageous to artists who do not find it feasible to mass produce their work, but want to reproduce their art as needed, or on-demand. Once an image is digitally archived, additional reproductions can be made with minimal effort and reasonable cost. The prohibitive up-front cost of mass production for an edition is eliminated. Archived files will not deteriorate in quality as negatives, film inherently do. 

The Quality : The quality of the giclee print rivals traditional silver-halide and gelatin printing processes and is commonly found in museums, art galleries, and photographic galleries. One does not need a large printer. They are mostly found in architect firms to printing shops where they often have large to smaller machines.

Artists, as I do not want to produce a large edition size which also brings up the price, since no more are created after that edition size is determined, and with much like hand prints as serigraphs, one makes a certificate of authenticity. One also signs each, with title and it is important print the number of each over the edition size on the left or preferably in the middle bottom white border below the image.

Here is an example of the final total number of prints made and each signed and numbered. If one decides to make a different size than another edition it should be renumbered, signed/titled as any new print series. Colours then may be changed if one likes to experiment. In a print edition there may be slight changes that are subtle in the darkness and lightness in colours between one print or another. 

Here are two examples from my art website and in 'Etsy' Art gallery on the internet done from original photographs and then manipulated and enhanced quite dramatically to look totally different, so the original is actually loctated in my computer file. These are then the output according to my specs. Each is signed, titled and numbered separately by hand to show they are a part of a small limited edition print series.

~ Vesa Peltonen    B.F.A.  B.Ed.   / SOGDC ~ Society of  Graphic Designers, Canada