Giclee     (Back to Top)

While the technological aspects of giclee (GHE-CLAY) impart an impression of simplicity and ease in actuality, as the process follows the same stages as traditional printing, the methods are extremely complex and time-consuming. The giclee printer is a digital printer that uses continuous ink jet technology whereby microscopic droplets of ink are placed with excruciating precision onto a surface. The image consists of pixels of dots that are formed by these droplets in combinations of each of the four colours (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). Data from the computer instructs the printer how many droplets of each colour to place within each given dot. The dots are so small (each droplet can be viewed only under a microscope) and precise that, instead of seeing dots, the human eye only registers a slow tonal graduation. The ink jet travels from left to right along a steel rodwhile a drum wrapped with fine art paper is spinning transversely to the ink at 250 inches per second. Each nozzle of ink (four nozzles, one for each colour) produces one million droplets per second - an amazing testament to the intensely precise calibration and mechanical accuracy of which the giclee printer is capable.