Printers, Inks & Papers

Printers, Inks

All About "Giclee"

What is a Giclee print?

A Giclee (pronounced Gee’clay) Print has all the tonalities and hues of the original image. Giclee is a French term meaning to spray or squirt, which is how an inkjet printer works. However, a Giclee printer is not the same as a standard desktop inkjet printer. The Giclée printmaking process has been in existence for around 15 years and was originally developed in America. The image is sprayed onto the paper at the rate of one million droplets of ink per second giving a very high resolution and flawless finish. Giclee printers are much larger; they print on mediums of A1 upwards. Giclee printers use special light-fast inks, which if kept out of the sun, will remain true for up to a minimum of 25 years. With prints produced by De Amda we can promise you will not be disappointed with the quality of your purchase; HP promise a guaranteed life of 45 years unprotected or 82 years when framed behind glass for prints produced with Vivera© inks. Giclee prints can be produced on any paper, however we prefer to use only HP Premium Photo Satin for our large format limited edition prints (as recommended by HP); thus ensuring a perfect finish. In other words the quality of the print is fantastic every time.

Why do we specialise in prints?

When an original piece is sold it might be priced out of many peoples reach. A piece of art as an investment is not always what people are looking for, sometimes they just want something pleasing to decorate their wall. Producing printed copies in limited and non-limited editions allows the artist to share his/her creation again and again in a worthily reproduced and colour perfect way. All of the limited edition prints are of small runs (normally 10 to 50, rarely more than 100) so you know that the print you choose will be unusual and shared by only a few other art lovers.

What about 'Limited Editions'?

A limited edition print is based on an agreement between the licensor, usually the artist or artist's estate (in this instance De Amda), as holder of the copyright, and the licensee, usually the publisher (also De Amda). It is recommended that the licensor agrees that no previous reproductions have been made and that neither he nor his heirs will allow an image to be published again. The publisher promises not to exceed the agreed print run, and all matrices and/or origination materials and overs have been or will be destroyed on completion of the print run/edition size. No part or whole of a print published as limited edition should be reproduced in any other form anywhere in the world, except for the sole purpose of promotion, eg in a brochure, sales literature or in a book. Specific documentation with full disclosure should accompany any print described as limited edition.

How are our prints produced?

We use the HP Designjet 130 to produce all Prints and Posters sold through De Amda. Giving vibrant images with brilliance, sharpness and realistic detail for every print. Impressive photo-quality results are achieved providing rich colour depth and uniform gloss. A built-in colour sensor enables automatic printhead alignment and automatic closed-loop color calibration ensures maximum colour consistency. Proprietary dyes help ensure that HP Vivera© Inks deliver exceptional light fade resistance while maintaining a large color gamut. The use of dyes, rather than pigments, also enables HP Vivera© Inks to provide an exceptionally smooth, uniformly high-gloss finish on gloss or satin photo papers and exceptional ink purity means excellent prints, every time.

AND PRINTED TO ORDER...

Because we don't believe prints should be rolled up on a shelf collecting dust we only ever print to order. in other words your print is made for you. The best kind of bespoke service available providing some of the most original prints available anywhere.
Not bad, eh?