What is a Giclee?

A Giclee is a printing technology used to make fine art prints from digital images. This is the technology used by Imagekind to print ALL of its Member Art. Giclees are great because not only do they give a very high quality print, they also use inks that are designed to last for many years. Your print if protected from harsh UV rays could easily be inherited by your grandchildren.

Compare that with your typical ink printers we use everyday? They use cheaper inks, papers and a different process that make them last only years not decades. I know that there are some works of art given as gifts that I'd like to later pass on to other relatives, and with each generation it becomes more dear to us.

The Tennyson Gallery defines Giclee as:

A giclee (zhee-CLAY) is a high-resolution, superior quality reproduction done on a special large format printer. Giclees are produced from digital scans or photographs of existing artwork. Some artists produce only digital art, so there is no "original" that can be hung on a wall. Artists can produce infinite images without degrading the quality of the production and reproduction. Many artists confine themselves to limited editions, however. Giclees create a new, vibrant medium for art as well as an affordable way for some art lovers to collect.
Giclees can be printed on many media, such as canvas, watercolor paper, and transparent acetates. Giclees are superior to traditional lithography because the colors are bright, last longer, and are of such a high resolution that they "paint" the medium in a continuous tone, rather than tiny dots.
Lithography uses 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.
Giclees use a sophisticated inkjet technology. Six colors are used--light cyan, cyan, light magenta, magenta, yellow and black, and the inks resulting in colors that are more true to the original art. The ink is sprayed onto the page, actually mixing the inks on the page to create true colors.

Therefore Giclees are the best way to get a piece of digital or digitalized art onto your walls with the best quality possible. Imagekind offers a way to see samples of their use of the Giclee method through samples on different paper types. You can use this sample kit to choose the type of paper your fine art prints use.

The Giclee system uses 8 colors to give the greatest depth possible

Your prints will bring you joy for many years with proper care

Using the Ultra- Chrome K3 pigmented inkset, from Epson, Imagekind's fine art printers will allow users to print outstanding color and neutral black & white prints on a variety of media including glossy, satin, matte, fine art and canvas. Without hesitation, the quality and shine of a pigment giclee on canvas, watercolor or satin paper is unmatched.

Epson Print Permanence Rating Chart

Media	Framed w/ UV Filter	Framed Under Glass	Unframed Rating
Enhanced Matte	110 years	76 years	45 years
Premium Photo Glossy	98 years	85 years	60 years
Somerset Velvet	128 years	62 years	34 years
Ultra Smooth Fine Art	175 years	108 years	57 years
Premium Photo Lustre	165 years	71 years	48 years
Premier Art Gloss Canvas	100+ years	100+ years	100+ years

Conclusion

You can buy fine art prints at Imagekind knowing that you'll receive the highest quality printing available for all member art. All of the wall art shown on this website is available from Imagekind, so shop with confidence and if you aren't sure which paper is right, buy the giclee sample kit and get a coupon on your next wall art purchase!