A GICLÉE fine art print is made from a photographic negative or positive and painted onto fine art paper. A scanner first reads a negative or positive into a computer with high-end software. Once the image is in digital form the image is subject to complex image creation, arrangement, and manipulation. For instance, a simple dust spot or scratch on the negative can be removed, colors can be added, changed or enhanced, or the image itself can be creatively manipulated and altered before it is printed.
The printer is a high precision ink jet printer capable of producing images using precisely controlled dots of ink many times smaller than the width of a human hair. Four colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) are introduced at a rate of one million drops of ink per second (per color) onto a drum on which a wide variety of print media can be mounted (rag paper, rice paper, tissue, canvas, etc.)
The Giclée print is then a print of a photographic image made from a negative or positive and painted onto fine art rag paper. As such, special care must be taken to protect and preserve the image and the fine art paper. Because the image on the paper is made up of paints, any water on the paper will damage or destroy the image. Moreover, direct exposure to sunlight (i.e. the sun's rays moving directly across the image) will cause the colors to fade over time.

Caring for a Giclée print:
The following care should be taken with fine art prints:

Safeguard the image so that it is not touched or scratched.
Never allow the image or the paper to become the least bit damp or wet


Have the print enclosed within a picture frame as soon as practicable


Use UV glass over the image in the frame


Place the framed image on a wall where the image does not receive direct sunlight

 

All Giclée Printing
done by
Thomas Alan Parks
at...
Orion Studios
in Santa Fe, New Mexico

 

Mounting a Giclée print:
Fine art paper, such as that used for the Giclee fine-art print, should be mounted by way of hinging with folding hinges and/or the use of corner supports. It should not be dry or vacuum mounted. It should be mounted on an acid-free, archival, non-buffered rag or conservation mat board. Conservation mat board is usually less expensive. The print should not be flattened or straightened with any process that uses either steam or water. Keep in mind that slight "waffling" of the paper is characteristic of both the water color process and the paper and is not considered a flaw.  


Window-mat:
As the print has a frayed or "deckle"or strai t edge, the framer should consider using a "float" method of mounting this print. In this method, the overmat, cover-mat or window-mat is sized so that the entire image seems to float within the window-mat allowing the paper's edge to show. Using this method, the image can be enhanced by selecting an under-mat, the mat to which the print is attached, in a color or fabric that complements a color found in the print. However, mounting style is a matter of preference, and you may also choose to use a window-mat that circumsribes the image and covers the remainder of the rag paper and its deckle or strait edge.