Giclée Fine Art Prints

The desire for print quality has given us more than 20 years ago to collotype. This course has accompanied the question of what is possible today.
According to our investigations of inkjet systems in the past 2 years we have done pretty good prints,
although the lights problem has not yet been resolved.
The quality is achievable in a position to show more complex properties, for example, glue or oilcolour play,
Giclée Fine Art Prints have much of the charm of the original awards.

Prints of the latest inkjet technology got a larger color space and a better long-term stability than conventional methods.
Inkjet systems are therefore to create proofs, while the smaller radius of the target color printing process is simulated.

If You use the full color space for a single picture, its prints could meet the strict standards of artists.
The low production speed of these devices is no disadvantage in an artistic environment.

The durability of the inks against UV radiation has been considerably improved.
Traditional prints and photochemical C-prints which meets the needs for archiving have a life expectancy of about 15 years.
This is far exceeded by modern inks.

The digitization of high quality must be taken into account and therefore we do a resolution of at least 1200-2400 dpi.
(by this the fluid ink will bring already heavy demands on the coating of the paper.)

The usual technical data of scanners say little about the actual quality of image processing.
Even looking at the resolution in dpi (dots per inch) it's important, whether the individual pixels where actually measured,
or how they're calculated from the measurement.
The brightness range is uncritical by the high amount of scattered light during scanning.
On the other hand, the color separation - never documented - plays an important role. Not only for the color purity, but also in image sharpness.
Poor color separation will do increasingly blurred contours.
Similarly, depth of field is needed to have a good result, for original artist's works are never smooth.
We have to test scanners from 6 manufacturers to get one usable device.

The printing systems - seen under the microscope - produce significant differences.
Key to the quality is not only the number of print heads and their (mostly theoretical) resolution, but also their intelligent use by the screening program.

The best result were given by the printing systems from Hewlett Packard.
Together with the company build in stochastic screening program the images shows at 8-times magnification fine details without interference.
The devices also have a builtin color gauge to calibrate the printer for an exactly colour output.

The HP used VIVERVA-inks certified by the Wilhelm Imaging Research Institute in Grinnell (USA) 80 years
resistance for the presentation of the prints under glass before visible changes occur.
This stability is even not be achieved by many artist's original watercolor paints.

The heavy 300gr/qm Hahnemühle paper with a real edge is handmade for a long life and therefore acidfree and alkaline buffered.
The resolution that we have applied - our own coating - allows the expression of detail and offers an UV-stable basis.

The conservation of the natural surface of this excellent paper prompted us to develop our own "invisible" coating.
For the collector offers this in addition to the traditional aesthetic moment of artist's graphic extensive security against counterfeiting,
because individually handmade sheets with natural edges and this equipment are not present in trade.

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