Giclée is a French word meaning “spray or spreading.” In this case refers to the way in which the ink is deposited on the surface of paper, cloth or other carrier of choice for the artist. A print is a work of art reproduced by digital inkjet technology through specialized machinery producing high resolution results similar to the original. Still, we can not consider all inkjet digital prints as giclées.
This technology, which deposits tiny droplets of variable size, controlled with extreme precision on the support, provides outstanding results, with the same characteristics of a continuous tone image. Our printers produce images with a (perceived) apparent resolution of 2800 dpi. This means that a printing system that uses a fixed frame, would need 2800 points for every linear inch print. At present, no other printing system can produce images with the resolution.
Giclées have been extensively analyzed by Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc., a leading authority on the study and preservation of fineart prints, photographs and film emulsions.
Analyses conducted by Wilhelm show that the life of a giclée print depends on the interaction of different variables: the inks used for printing, the paper in which we print on and the conditions of exposure to several factors as light and air.
The standard conditions under which the analysis were performed, equivalent to 450 lux for 12 hours a day. This amount of light is considered the normal average of a home or office. Under these conditions, a giclée printed with UltraChrome inks, on Hanehmühle PhotoRag paper and exposed under UV plexiglass, has durability superior to 100 years before any change in the color balance is significant.
We can reproduce your work one at a time, if these are your needs.
The digital file will be stored in GraficArtPrints -if you authorize so- and ready to print for further copies of an edition in the future.
Anyway, keep in mind that, we have a minimum charge per order and that you can get advantage of discounts from the second print on of the same file/size job.
We understand you will need your prints on demand. We do not expect you to spend your money, storing prints which do not have an intended destination.
We may continue printing at any time, partially, in whole or one by one basis, with the same color fidelity than the first one.
Every giclée print comes from a digital file.
If it comes to playing original physical work, like an oil painting, watercolor, drawing or photographic negatives or positives, the first step is to scan these originals to turn them to digital.
If you already have a digital file, we can print from it. If you do not have digital file yet, you can send the original work to GraficArtPrints, so we can get a sharp high resolution file from it.
All artwork must be handled with care.
We strongly recommend the use of cotton gloves whenever handling is required. For mounting and framing, we also recomend fine materials, 100% cotton, neutral pH or slightly alkaline bufered.
When the work is on display, it is preferable to be done under the protection of glass or plexiglass with UV protection.
Prints should never be exposed to direct sunlight and although the inks are water resistant, for obvious reasons they should not be in contact with liquids.
We can print any size. The onNo,
and … we have a some reasons not to:
We have not yet found anyone who is not satisfied with the color fidelity of our giclées. GraficArtPrints provides a test print, free of charge, for the artist to check if any corrections need to be made before final printing. Is there any better proof that a real paper print test?
Giclee printing, although based on CMYK inks, works on RGB color space. The range and saturation that pigments provide, is very much superior to the traditional CMYK printing. Out of gamut or not printable colors, ARE by definition NOT PRINTABLE and therefore no correction can be applied after softproofed on screen.
ICC profiles that are used at GraficArtPrints are from our own production, periodically renewed and for exclusive use to produce exquisite giclée prints on our facilities.
We believe that softproofing, has a little point in giclee printing and may create confusion among GraficArtPrints and their customers.
Softproofing in Lightroom shows almost no diference on these vivid colors.
To place an order, we prefer to receive your instructions in writing, either by email or through the contact form. Forward we send reply or estimate along with the necessary instructions to proceed.
You can send us your files in any format of the following: JPG, TIF, BMP, PSD, EPS, PDF, AI, INDD, ZIP, or RAR.
PLEASE NOTE: The file size should be for the same as print size at a resolution between 150-360 dpi.
Uploading digital files to our cloud is very easy.
Just click on the image on the left or on the “UPLOAD FILES” button you’ll find on the bottom left side of our website.
Either color proofs or final prints on materials of our permanent stock, are delivered in less than two days, in most cases.
If you request special materials not in our permanent stock, you will be informed on the delivery time at the time of receiving your request.
For scanning an original, further optimization and printing the color test, the time can vary due to the nature of the process, but is typically less than three days.
By bank transfer or by PayPal.
You can make payments through PayPal by credit card even without account.
All orders for new or repeating customers, must pay the order, before being sent.
It depends on the weight, volume and destiny of the package to be shipped, but we try to maintain the most competitive cost and quality service.
Free Shipping
GAP prints shipped to Spain (ex. Ceuta Melilla an Canary Islands) over 200,00 € excluding VAT, will be free of shipping charges.