The Giclee (pronounced "ghee-glay") printing process was developed in the early 1990's by rock musician Graham Nash & and his associate Mac Holbert. They recognized the capability of the Iris inkjet printer to produce high quality reproductions of art. These early machines had been developed for digital graphic proofing but it had not occurred to the manufacturer that its equipment would be adopted by artists as a digital method of fine art printing. In 1991 the world's first digital fine art business opened it's doors. Since this early beginning, the technology in equipment, media, inks and craftsmanship have advanced immeasurably.
Giclee prints are accepted in art communities as a piece of art rather than simply as prints. This acceptance is based on good reason. A giclee is a high resolution digital print made from an archival ink and media combination. Fine Giclee printing uses eight permanent pigments and prints on high quality art paper. Giclee prints look and feel like original art. Each print is done individually without the degradation experienced in offset copy prints due to deteration of the print masters or alignment of the individual color masters. Prints are a combination of continuous tone and stocastic screen patterns which makes it difficult to distinguish between giclee prints and original artwork. Giclee provides higher resolution and more reproducible colors than other printmaking techniques.
Although the Giclee process is relatively new, the materials used indicate that Giclee prints should remain fresh for an estimated one hundred years. This is about the life span of a properly cared for original watercolor. A watercolor painting should be framed under glass or plexiglas to protect its water based pigments from moisture. The Giclee process does not use water based pigments, therefore, you may choose to omit the protective glass.
