Giclée printing

Giclée (jhee-clay) derived from the french verb "gicler" meaning "to squirt". The term "giclée print" typically denotes a certain elevation in printmaking technology. Giclée prints are high resolution digital images printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates. The giclée process provides better colour accuracy than other means of reproduction.

Giclée prints (also known as Iris prints) are advantageous to artists who do not find it feasible to mass produce their work but want to reproduce their art as needed.

Painting

We produced limited edition reproductions of this print for sale by the artist.
(Image courtesy Anthony Green RA – www.anthonygreenra.com)

Once an image is archived, additional reproductions can be made with minimal effort and cost. Thus the up-front cost of mass production is eliminated and printing is done on demand. It also eliminates the need to hold a large inventory.

Another tremendous advantage to Giclée printing is that artwork can be reproduced to almost any size and on various media, giving the artist the ability to customize prints for a specific client.

Art posters

We produced prints for the "Iraq War Paintings" exhibition
(Image courtesy of Gerald Laing – www.geraldlaing.com)

The Rich Tapestry colour-managed giclée printing process is based around the Epson 9600 large format printer, utilising the seven-colour ultra chrome pigment-based ink system. This produces high clarity colour-faithful images on a variety of media, but particularly artist grade canvasses – both matt and semi-gloss types and specialised art papers. The canvasses are stretched onto high quality pine frames and then treated with a transparent spray coating to provide further waterproofing and UV protection. The life expectancy of the finished product is projected to be in excess of 75 years.