What is a Giclee?
David Waddleton
www.houseofcachet.com
In the French dictionary a giclee (zhee-CLAY) will be defined
as meaning "to spray or squirt." However others might say
"giclee" doesn't mean "to spray," that "Giclee" isn't an
infinitive and that it is the feminine of a past participle. So
if there is some argument over what the term Giclee means I
believe that the intention of the term is to define a printed
copy of an original artwork. Giclee is basically scanning the
artwork and then using that scan to print it out on a special
printer. This printer is not the same as a standard desktop
inkjet printer, and is much larger. Giclee prints are a little
over a meter wide and are often referred to as a "knitting
machine" as they look very similar.
Giclees are produced from digital scans of existing artwork.
Also, since many artists now produce only digital art, there is
no "original" that can be hung on a wall. Giclees solve that
problem, while creating a whole new vibrant digital medium for
art.
When printing there are any number of media for example canvas
to watercolor paper to transparent acetates. Giclees are better
then the traditional lithography in many ways. The colors are
brighter, last longer and are so high-resolution that they are
virtually continuous tone, rather than tiny dots. The range of
color for giclees is far beyond that of lithography, and by
viewing in comparison with each other you will find that the
details are far crisper in giclee.
Lithography prints use tiny dots of four colors--cyan, magenta,
yellow and black; to fool the eye into seeing various hues and
shades. Colors are "created" by printing different size dots of
these four colors.
Again Giclees use inkjet technology, but more sophisticated than
your desktop printer. The process employs six colors--light
cyan, cyan, light magenta, magenta, yellow and black--of
lightfast, pigmented inks and finer, more numerous, and
replaceable print heads resulting in a wider color gamut, and
the ability to use various media to print on. The ink is sprayed
onto the page, actually mixing the color on the page to create
true shades and hues.
Giclees were originally developed as a proofing system for
lithograph printing presses, but it became apparent that the
presses were having a hard time delivering the quality and color
of the giclee proofs. They evolved into the more popular form
over lithography's and are now the cheaper and more common way
to make a copy print. They are coveted by collectors for their
fidelity and quality, and desired by galleries because they
don't have to be produced in huge quantities with their large
layout of capital and storage.
In addition, Giclees are produced directly from a digital file
that is created by scanning the original. This will save
generations of detail-robbing negatives and printing plates, as
with traditional printing.
View our Fine Art Gallery at www.houseofcachet.com