Printing Methods & Materials
Choosing a printer is a daunting task for most artists. The printer we are fortunate enough to partner with has been printing for artists and photographers since 2003 and is located in San Antonio, TX.
We have carefully chosen a variety of printing methods to satisfy a mix of price and quality ranges. These printing methods include Giclée printing on Pigment Watercolor, Sublimation on Natural Maple Wood and Archival Ink on Canvas.
To learn more about these printing options, read the information below.
Giclée printing on Fine Art Paper
What is a “Pigment Giclée?”
You probably already know that the word “Giclée“ is French, with a loose English translation of “to spray”. A Giclée print is not a photo print per-se, but rather an expensive high-end ink-jet pigment based print with higher resolution heads and the ability to work with archival fine art pigments.
Our printer’s Giclée printing method is an ultra-high apparent resolution of 1800 dpi, with a twelve color printing process using a Canon Pigment printer. This provides a larger color gamut than the four and six color versions on the market today. For extended print longevity, our printer uses Canon Lucia Pigmented Inks, according to Wilhelm Imaging Research reports, consistently outlast Epson Ultrachrome.
We have chosen the best papers to bring out the colors and depth of the artwork, they include:
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Fine Art Hahnemühle Velvet Photo Rag (Matte and Metallic) : The fine, smooth surface, heavy weight (308 g, 21-mil thick), and feel of Photo Rag® make this paper versatile with impressive pictorial depth and detail. Photo Rag® is a white, 100% cotton paper and with its premium matte coating Photo Rag® meets the highest industry standards regarding density, color gamut, color graduation and image sharpness while preserving the special touch and feel of genuine art paper.
The Photo Rag® Metallic features a special silvery-shimmering surface finish.
- Baryta (Semi-Gloss) : A smooth surface, heavy weight (320 g, 18-mil thick) gallery grade glossy, bright white paper made from 100% α-Cellulose. The improved coating formulation guarantees a homogeneous surface and top printing quality with high density and a large color gamut.
- Hot Press (Matte) : A high quality smooth art paper and heavy weight (300 g, 19.5-mil thick) make it ideal for fine art reproductions. This eco-friendly, OBA-free fine art paper is 100% pure cotton meeting some of the highest archival standards.
- Archival Matte : featuring a smooth surface, heavy weight (230 g, 9.5-mil thick), neutral white, matte paper engineered for accurate color reproduction that provides high contrast and high-resolution output.
(The best fine art paper will be chosen for the design)
Natural Maple Wood
Our natural wood maple panels, are ready to display. The back of the panels includes a pre-cut keyhole, so it will hang flush on any wall.
At a little more than ½” thick these panels are an ideal choice for many applications and settings without the need to be framed. The refined natural wood sides give it that finished look you require. With wood prints your image is sublimated / fused directly onto the surface. It allows for incredible detail to show while also having the wood grain look required. The surface can be dusted or even cleaned with a soft damp rag without danger of scratching or harming the image.
Artisan Archival Canvas
Images are printed with archival grade Epson Ultrachrome GSX inks. The finished print has a sating (low glass level) appearance ideally suited for both art reproductions and photographs.
The superior poly/cotton blend, 2-over-1 canvas is specially engineered to create beautiful prints providing a wide color gamut, exceptional contrast with a consistent canvas texture. Due to the durable nature of the inks, prints are both scratch and smudge resistant without the need to be coated.
The canvas print will be mounted over 1.5 inch thick (depth) stretcher bars. These prints are meant to be hung unframed or inserted into a canvas floater frame.
Artwork is printed on-demand, please allow up to 7 business days for printing in addition to shipping time.