Printing Process
Giclée Printing
We print colour-perfect Giclée prints for you, using the very latest technology, on our hand-picked Hahnemühle Photorag paper. |
What is Giclée printing?
Giclée (pronounced zhee-CLAY) printing is a process that uses fade-resistant, archival inks and archival substrates to print on large format printers.
The Giclee printing process provides better colour accuracy than other means of reproduction. Archival quality ensures that the prints are light-fast and non water soluble. What this translates to is that the image that you get is the best quality available.
Giclée Fine Art Prints are loved by visual artists for their handmade feel, beautiful range of textured papers and vibrant brilliant tonal range.
A Giclée print is a high quality archival inkjet print. The word Giclée (pronounced ‘Jee-Klay’ with a soft J), comes from the French verb gicler meaning "to squirt, spurt, or spray". We use the latest best-in-class Epson Sure Color P9000 printers, capable of producing print resolutions up to 1440 by 2880 DPI.
Giclee is a term for fine art digital prints made on inkjet printers and is typically used in reference to high-quality prints. The term was coined by an American printmaker Jack Duganne in 1991 and describes the way the ink is applied to paper during the printing process. In French, the term literally means “to spurt” or “to squirt”, though French speakers know it also carries with it a sexual connotation. With this is mind you may (or may not) prefer to use other names for the process, such as digital or inkjet print. If you chose to print on archival paper, it could be called an archival print.
Our satellite images created using the highest quality Giclée printing techniques, on Hahnemüle Photorag archival paper. Click here for more detail on the Giclee printing process.
Why we choose Giclée over standard Inkjet printing?
Not all Giclées are created equal, so make sure you’re getting the best with our list of the three most important things to look out for in a high quality Giclée print. So, what’s the difference between an inkjet print you produce at home and a professional Giclée print? There are three important distinctions:
Print Resolution
Giclée printers have a higher dot per square inch resolution than normal inkjet printers, allowing you to do justice to high quality image files to produce finer, less pixelated prints than you could with a home inkjet printer. We use the latest use best-in-class Epson Sure Color P9000 printers, capable of producing print resolutions up to 1440 by 2880 DPI.
Colour Range
Like your home inkjet printer, professional Giclée printers use the CMYK colour process, except that they feature a multiple ink cartridge, 8 channel printhead based on the CMYK colour model, adding light magenta, light cyan and 3 levels of black. Our true Giclée prints deliver unrivalled colour accuracy with superior black & whites, exceptional colour gamut and sublimely smooth gradient transitions.