| Giclee (pronounced "zhee-clay"
is a French word for "to spray on" or "to spray
ink." The digital process began in 1989 as a superior method of
reproducing fine art. The artist’s image is scanned into a digital
file that is printed on a high resolution ink jet printer.
Typically the printer uses watercolor papers and canvas substrates that are very close to the papers and canvases used by the artist. A well-produced giclee is often indistinguishable from the original piece of art. The images are crisp, highly detailed, and colorful. |
Giclees offer the artist a significant advantage over traditional printing technologies. With traditional printing methods, serigraphy and lithography, the artist must print the entire edition at the same time. For many artists this is prohibitively expensive. The giclee process is a "print on demand" method. Thus, the artist can print one piece based at a time based on demand over the life of the edition. By utilizing the giclee process the artist has the option of producing many different images simultaneously at a much lower initial cost than with other printing technologies. |