The Definition : Giclée (zhee-klay) - The French word "giclée" is a noun that means a spray of liquid. Giclée now refers to fine-art printing. Glenn F. Hohnstreiter Photography now offers this service to artists and photographers to produce the ultimate in high quality prints of their work.
The Term : The term "giclée print" connotes a significant advantage to the watercolor, oil, or pastel artist in that their works of art can be reproduced accurately with extreme color fidelity. Using high resolution digital scans, the scans are printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The giclée printing process provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction.
The Process : Giclée prints are created typically using professional 8 to 12 color ink-jet printers, such as the Hewlett-Packard Designjets used by Glenn F. Hohnstreiter Photography. These modern technology printers are capable of producing incredibly detailed prints for both the fine art and photographic markets. Glenn F. Hohnstreiter Photography can create prints up to 44 inches wide with any length up to 50 feet.
The Advantages : Giclée prints are advantageous to artists who do not find it feasible to mass produce their work, but want to reproduce their art as needed, or on-demand. Once an image is digitally archived, additional reproductions can be made with minimal effort and reasonable cost. The prohibitive up-front cost of mass production for an edition is eliminated. Archived digital files are created for a permanent record enabling future printing on demand. Another tremendous advantage of giclée printing is that digital images can be reproduced to almost any size and onto various media, giving the artist the ability to customize prints for a specific client.
The Quality : The quality of the giclée print exceeds or rivals traditional silver-halide and gelatin printing processes and is commonly found in museums, art galleries, and photographic galleries.
Giclée prints by Glenn F. Hohnstreiter Photography are printed on archival material such as fine-art paper, watercolor paper, canvas and photographic papers using Vivera dye- and pigment-based color inks. All materials used are certified and rated by the Fine Art Trade Guild to withstand fading and deterioration for 100+ years if properly displayed out of direct sunlight and protected by glass or other UV inhibiting material.
Wilhelm Imaging Research has also evaluated Vivera inks on similar archival materials with estimated lifetimes of 200+ years for indoor locations.
If requested, your giclée prints will be matted and framed according to archival standards.