Giclee: Allpconline Company Blog
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Giclee canvas stretching
Although we do offer stretching services for our canvas giclee prints, a more economical way to save on higher shipping costs is to have this done by a local framer.
Our canvas is thick and protected with a very durable coat. We even carry a canvas that does not need to be coated. Whichever one you order, rest assured your prints will not be damaged by too much pressure applied during stretching.
Any reputable framing shop, including large chains, is very familiar with putting giclee on canvas on a frame. The shipping costs are much lower with rolled canvas opposite to sending large flat boxes.
If you live in a rural area without access to framers, plan to order more than one stretched giclee from us. The shipping cost per unit makes it a less expensive alternative.
Our canvas is thick and protected with a very durable coat. We even carry a canvas that does not need to be coated. Whichever one you order, rest assured your prints will not be damaged by too much pressure applied during stretching.
Any reputable framing shop, including large chains, is very familiar with putting giclee on canvas on a frame. The shipping costs are much lower with rolled canvas opposite to sending large flat boxes.
If you live in a rural area without access to framers, plan to order more than one stretched giclee from us. The shipping cost per unit makes it a less expensive alternative.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
What is a giclee?
After receiving so many calls from prospective customers who just learned about the term giclee, it is in probably a good idea to shed some light on the term and what it means both literally and as a product. Giclee is often mispelled as geclee, glicee, gicle.
Giclee is a French noun deriving from the verb gicler (to squirt). It refers to the technology used by inkjet printers to spray inks onto the paper. The term giclee was coined to separate this fine art printmaking method from a lowly inkjet print. The latter is made on a cheap machine with non archival materials and without the technical and artistic skills to produce an exquisite rendering of a digital file.
While there is no set guideline to distinguish a giclee as such, the characteristics of a true giclee are as follows:
-Use of a professional grade printer
-Use of archival inks
-Use of acid free, possibly optical brightnere free papers
-Expert scanning and file preparation
-Use of calibrated hardware with proper ICC profiles
These are basic components of what a giclee needs to be defined with. I know this can be confusing. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for and there is simply no way that cheap hardware and materials will create prints that rival professional grade machines. Last but not least, expensive hardware can be bought but the skills to color correct, research new and better materials, keep abreast of technology are a full time concern.
Technorati tag: giclee
Giclee is a French noun deriving from the verb gicler (to squirt). It refers to the technology used by inkjet printers to spray inks onto the paper. The term giclee was coined to separate this fine art printmaking method from a lowly inkjet print. The latter is made on a cheap machine with non archival materials and without the technical and artistic skills to produce an exquisite rendering of a digital file.
While there is no set guideline to distinguish a giclee as such, the characteristics of a true giclee are as follows:
-Use of a professional grade printer
-Use of archival inks
-Use of acid free, possibly optical brightnere free papers
-Expert scanning and file preparation
-Use of calibrated hardware with proper ICC profiles
These are basic components of what a giclee needs to be defined with. I know this can be confusing. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for and there is simply no way that cheap hardware and materials will create prints that rival professional grade machines. Last but not least, expensive hardware can be bought but the skills to color correct, research new and better materials, keep abreast of technology are a full time concern.
Technorati tag: giclee
Thursday, March 09, 2006
New giclee canvas
We carry a new canvas line from Bulldog Products. The current type (we will add more as new custom profiles are being made) is Green Dot. This is a micro porous waterproof canvas that does not require a top coat and is matte in appearance. Very few canvas made for the giclee market can be left without a coating and used as is. We can of course liquid laminate the canvas to be satin or glossy. As always, a top coat will increase scuff resistance and somewhat deepen colors and Dmax.
Note: only truly microporous, OBA free canvas can be left uncoated.
We tested and keep lokking and many different products and Green Dot stands out for a very high Dmax and colo saturation. For a softer look, Fredrix is indicated.
Technorati tag: canvas print
Note: only truly microporous, OBA free canvas can be left uncoated.
We tested and keep lokking and many different products and Green Dot stands out for a very high Dmax and colo saturation. For a softer look, Fredrix is indicated.
Technorati tag: canvas print
