Giclée

About Giclée printing

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 giclee printing process provides better color
accuracy than other means of reproduction.

The Process :
Giclée 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. Giclée prints are sometimes mistakenly referred
to as Iris prints, which are 4-Color ink-jet prints from a printer pioneered in
the late 1970s by Iris Graphics.

The Advantages : Giclée 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 and film inherently do. Another tremendous
advantage of giclee printing is that digital images can be reproduced to almost
any size and onto various media, giving the artist the ability to customize
prints for a specific client.

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.

The Market : Numerous examples of giclee prints can be found in New York City at the
Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Chelsea Galleries.
Recent auctions of giclee prints have fetched $10,800 for Annie Leibovitz,
$9,600 for Chuck Close, and $22,800 for Wolfgang Tillmans (April 23/24 2004,
Photographs, New York, Phillips de Pury & Company.)

Please cite source www.gicleeprint.net if using this information. Digital
Pigment Print Definition

The term "pigment print" is used
generally for any type of printed image that uses strictly pigments. Pigment
printing processes have been utilized since the middle of the 19th century. The
image stability of pigment printing is superior to that of any other method of
printing, including traditional silver-halide or metal-based.

Digital inkjet printing has seen a surge
in the use of the pigment ink as ink sets have been refined to be compatible
with the latest in high-resolution inkjet technology.

Where archival dye-based ink sets exhibit
excellent color gamut, pigment inks excel in permanence. A dye is molecularly
soluble in its vehicle, but pigment is not. Pigment particles tend to be large
enough to embed into the receiving substrate making them water-resistant. The
particulate nature of pigment inks ensures their archival superiority. A
particle of pigment is less susceptible to destructive environmental elements
than a dye molecule.

Many digital papers have coatings which
enhance color gamut. However, these delicate coatings are susceptible to
scuffing and scratching, and diminish the archival properties of the print. Prints
made with coated substrates are not considered true digital pigment prints.

Considering the above factors, TeraJet
defines a digital pigment print, sometimes referred to
as a pigmented paper print, as a digital image rendered onto an uncoated,
natural fiber substrate with pigment inks.

Please cite source www.terajet.com if using this information.