Giclee Information

I spend quite some time going to art show. I am a mystery shopper; I visit every booth and when I see prints sold as giclees I ask what paper, inks and printers are being used. To my amazement I see the sellers claiming their prints are made on little desktop printers that cost as little as $79. In addition some of them either print on uncoated papers or even worse on non archival coated papers. These prints are not giclees!

What printers are giclee quality?

What used to be a field dominated first by Iris and then Roland, Colorspan and Epson (with its pro line), now things are more crowded. HP and Canon are out with giclee quality machines. Basically the current offerings come from:

Epson: All the pro graphic models such as the 3800, 4800, 7800 and 9800. The 10000 model is really too old and outdated to be in this category.

HP: Designjet Z3100 and the upcoming Z6100 series.

Canon: ImagePROGRAPH IPF series.

Colorspan: The Displaymaker series

The gray area

There is a crop of "prosumer" printers made by all major manufacturers that approaches giclee quality. Pigmented inks are used and nozzle are fairly sophisticated. You can spot these printers because they usually cost a few hundred dollars. Calling prints coming from these machines true giclees is a stretch. They are at best decor quality.

Software, drivers etc

Always remember a true giclee is a print made by a skilled imaging professional with years of experience and art/photography backgrounds. Scanning needs to be done with high-end equipment, not with consumer level digital cameras/scanners. With your target is the decor audience, be honest and describe your product accurately.