What is a Giclee Print?

I sell my art through several online sites, some of which accept prints and some who don't.
Through Etsy I market cheap and cheerful prints , using photographs I have taken myself and my own printer, albeit a super duper Epson, using archival inks and paper. These are a bit more expensive than the run of the mill, but again I am pleased with the results.

My prints as seen
on Etsy
I have paid for my work to be professionally photographed and printed and I am pretty pleased with the results of that too. The big advantage of having this done is that the paintings can be reproduced to a much larger size.

But it got me thinking. My printer Steve calls his reproductions giclee prints. What is the difference between his prints and mine, apart from the size.

I looked on Wikipedia and this is what I found :

"Giclee: The name was originally coined in 1991 by print maker Jack Duganne for fine art digital prints made on inkjet printers. the name originally applied to fine art prints created on IRIS printers in a process invented in the late 1980s, but since has come to mean any inkjet print. It is often used by artists, galleries and print shops to suggest high quality printing but since it is an unregulated word it has no associated warrant of quality"

So what this tells me is
1. A giclee print is one made on an inkjet printer.
2. Quality depends on these things:
a, How well the photo or scan of the image was taken
b, The specifications of the inkjet printer
c, The quality of the paper
d, The specifications of the ink

And while we're on the subject the prints that I produce are reproduction prints , because they are reproductions of my paintings.
Lino cuts, digital art and screen prints, to name just a few, are completely different art forms and as such are each unique pieces of art which is reflected in the price.

Thank you for reading this. It's clarified things in my mind if nothing else!
Leave me a comment below in the box . I'd love to hear from you.






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