Giclee Information

Selecting the proper materials for giclee printing is not as easy as it seems. There are many products offered and variations in quality are wide.

Pigmented inks

Pigmented inks are the ONLY viable solution for giclee. Never use dye based inks as they are not stable. Please stick with inks made by the printer manufacturers. There are notable exceptions where third party inks are high quality. Overall, rest assured that when using printer manufacturer inks, you will get consistent results, great archival permanence and the warranty on the machine will keep valid. Check with your printer manufacturer and see whether they cover problems with nozzles etc if their inks are not used. Likely the warranty is void in most cases.

Canvas

Generally speaking water resistant canvas has a narrower gamut than non water resistant. A notable exception is Epson PremierArt. Great gamut and water resistant. My other favorite brands are from Bulldog Products and Fredrix. Beware of canvas made in countries such as China. It can cost half as much, but the quality and consistency vary batch to batch. As of now, unless you target is the decor market with low archival and quality requirement, stay away!

Watercolor

Hahnemuhle, Arches, Somerset are some of the most recognized, highest quality papers out there. Again, same concept for watercolor as I discussed with canvas. Stay away from low cost overseas product. Papers and inks are not the place to save money. After all the aim to provide a high quality product the can be proudly called a giclee. Low cost materials just do not cut it.