ABOUT GICLEE PRINTS

Fine art reproduction has been revolutionized with the Giclee printing process and is now setting the standard the low volume reproduction of artworks. With the advent of Giclee (also known as Iris prints) the technique of fine art printing has become even more precise. Because no screens are used, the prints have a higher resolution than lithographs. The dynamic color range is greater than serigraphy. In the Giclee process, a fine stream of ink, more than four million droplets per second, is sprayed onto archival art paper. Exact calculations of hue, value, and density direct the ink flow. This produces a combination of 512 chromatic changes (with over 3 million colors possible) of highly saturated, nontoxic ink. Each image is digitised/scanned and meticulously checked by the artist to faithfully reproduce the original artwork

Displaying a full color spectrum, the prints are lush and velvety with the feel and luminosity of a watercolor. Giclee prints capture every nuance of an original painting. Something which the standard four color printing process fails to do. Image permanence is a concern to artists and collectors alike. A Gicle e print is very stable, giving fade & color shift resistance of better than 25 years for average indoor light conditions. When watercolor paper is used, this time span increases to 75 years. The Fine Art Trade Guild (UK) has tested these prints using the prefered Blue Wool Method. With a top score of 8, the prints scored of 6-7, which is very high to excellent. Results recently published by Wilhelm Imaging Research using prints from an IRIS printer have yeilded a predicted display life of 65 to 75 years on Somerset velvet fine art paper. Henry Wilhelm is considered to be the authority with regard to indoor fade testing of fine art and photographic images.

Each print is printed on Somerset 255gms fine art archival acid-free watercolor paper. The paper size is 35 inches (89cm) high with a print size of 30 inches (76cm). Each edition size is 200. Each print is signed and numbered and issued with a certificate of authenticity by the artist. Prints are sent flat packed by priority mail, or FedEx.

Edition Size, Limited Editions
A printing of a group of prints from a single screen is called an edition. A limited edition is one in which the numbers of the print are decided beforehand, and then the edition size is limited to that number. Then the screen/file is destroyed or changed in some way so that only a limited number of prints are made of that image.
These limited edition prints are each numbered below the image. This takes the form of the number of each image in the order of its making, then separated by a slash, the number of the total edition. In this way, a number of 29/195, means the 29th image completed out of a total of 195 made. Part of the edition is also marked AP - Artist's Proof. Traditionally these were given to the artist as part payment for signing the edition and were 10% of the edition size. Due to there limited number and sometimes personal connection with the artist AP's are considered more collectable and normally carry a premium over the standard edition. AP numbers are marked using Roman numerals.

Certain collectors prefer lower, mid or higher numbers of the series; this is a personal preference. In general the smaller the total edition number, the rarer the prints and the higher the value. Thus a print from an edition of 99 should be more valuable, all other factors being equal, than a print from an edition size of 500.

History
Giclee is a relatively recent form of printing. Long before the word Giclee was first used to refer to art prints, there were artists who discovered that ink-jet printers provided options not available from other print making processes.

In the1980's, Graham Nash and Jon Cone combined high quality Iris ink-jet printers with special "archival" inks of their own invention that were intended to create prints that would have wonderful color and the stability to resist fading over time. By the early 1990's another pioneer, Jack Duganne popularized the word 'gicle?Le' to describe the result of printing with these special machines and inks that came from a technology used for commercial printing in a process called "pre-press" proofing.

The Giclee Printers Association (GPA) was formed in 2001.

While there are some devotees who feel that only an "Iris" brand printer can create a true Giclee print, this is just not so. In recent years, printers by HP, Epson, and Canon have been developed to serve this market, and they far exceed the performance of the original Iris printers.

French Mount
French mounting is an option available for most of our prints. This type is mounting is 5mm thicker than the normal mount , giving the image a far more luxurious look. Fletcher uses this form of mounting for his drawings and colour studies as well. The piece is presented with board backing and clear wrap, ready for a frame of your choice. This mounting option is also suitable for presenting as a gift.