Giclees_FAQs

The Facts about Giclee/Inkjet Printing, Papers, and FAQ’s
Archival Ink Vrs. Non Archival Inks?

The purpose of this is to let you know the Good and Bad of these inks. Most places will not tell you because they don’t want you to know the faults or just don’t know any better. We want you to know everything so there are no surprises in the future and you can make an informed decision. Don’t Believe that any ink or printer is perfect, they all have limitations and faults. We have learned by experience and communicating with others in the printing industry.

All Archival Inks have a lower color gamut than Non Archival inks. Gamut is the range of color that particular ink is capable of creating. The Most obvious colors are Reds. Reds are made up of Magenta, and Yellow ink with small amounts of Cyan and Black. Reds are weak using archival inks compared to Non-Archival inks. If you compare them you would see that the archival inks look flatter and not as punchy. Sometimes Vivid Reds will not be as bright. The only solution to this would be to use Non Archival ink or media that is coated. We will get to coated papers later.

There are two types of archival inks. Pigment, or Archival Dye. Pigment supposedly lasts longer because of the ink molecules, but the color Range or gamut is lower than the Archival Dye. Archival Dye is rated to not last as long as Pigment but has a higher range of color by taking advantage of the Dye characteristics.

Pigment inks claim to last up to 200 years on uncoated Paper. Archival Dye inks claim to last up to 75 Years on similar paper. These results can very “GREATLY” on environmental conditions. These tests were done with accelerated testing and don’t really simulate the real world. The Greatest Factor in fading results is Real Sunlight. As with Human Skin and Automotive Paints we all know that the Sun is the most damaging light source. If Prints are exposed to Sunlight Day after Day or near a window with lots of sunlight the fading is ACCELERATED astronomically. Simply going to Art Shows outdoors will not show problems because they are exposed to the sun for just a few days and they will not fade that quick.

Non Archival Inks if kept indoors away from excessive sun claim to last up to 25 years but again this depends on conditions. The Advantage of Non-Archival Inks is the very bright colors and vivid prints. Reds are bright and glowing. If printed on uncoated paper the color is duller but still pretty bright but this depends on the type of paper. We have Non Archival coated prints on our walls, which have been there for 3 years with no fading although they are away from, direct sunlight, and only get fluorescent light. Although the same inks on a coated material placed in a area with lots of sunlight all day “not direct sunlight” turned Yellow in about 3 months. The same location with Archival Dye shows no fading yet since they were put in place September 15, 2002. We will keep you up to date on this.

So it comes down to the basic Question now knowing the limits and the good and bad of both inks.
1. Do I want longevity with weaker colors (Archival Inks)?
2. Or Do I want very bright colors with the longevity of a lithograph, magazine, or standard poster?
Remember the longevity depends on where the print is going to go!!!!

Coated Paper Vrs. Non Coated Paper

What is the difference between Coated Paper and Non Coated Paper?

Coated Paper is just what it says. It has an invisible coating which allows the ink to sit on the surface giving you brighter colors using Archival Ink or Non Archival Ink. Some coated paper even has something called an Illuminator coating to bring out even brighter colors. Non Coated has no coating and the ink absorbs into the paper and also sits on the paper.

So what does this have to do with anything? It sounds like coated is the best choice since I get brighter colors. Yes and No. Now the downsides to both.

Coated Paper since it has an invisible layer to bring out brighter colors is supposedly more likely to fade than uncoated paper since the ink sits on the surface. Uncoated Paper such as Somerset Velvet supposedly resists fading much more since the ink is absorbed into the paper and sits on the paper surface. The only downside to “uncoated paper is the color range is much weaker than Coated Paper. This means if you want very bright colors you will get weak colors. If you are working with Natural Earthtones with no bright vivid colors Uncoated will work for you. If you want Vivid Reds and Blues Uncoated will not give you the results you want, as the colors will be dull and flat. Uncoated Papers sometimes work better with Pigment inks but these will still not be as bright or Vivid as the same ink on Coated Paper.

If you are using a small Epson, HP, or Canon Printers with Archival ink on your own we have noticed that all the media’s for these printers are coated. It must say uncoated if it is uncoated. If it says nothing it is coated.

So it comes down to the same question again. Do I want weaker colors with more longevity (Uncoated), or brighter colors with less longevity (Coated)? Again this depends on location of print. Under Glass, Near Excessive sunlight?

Protecting Prints from Water or Scratches.

Prints on Paper seem to be very durable from scratches. The inks also will not be removed by water but there could be some discoloration from excessive water. Canvas on the other hand is more susceptible to water damage and scratches. We use a Waterproof Canvas which will not smear when exposed to water. We recommend protecting the prints with protector. One artist with success sprays on a few light coats of Liquitex Acrylic in a Matte or Shiny Varnish. After doing this the print was impossible to scratch no matter how hard you tried. Also it was completely water-resistant.

6 Color Vrs. 4 Color
We use a 6-color printer instead of a 4-color printer, as most home printers are four colors. What is the difference? Does this mean I get more color with 6 Color?

We use a 6 color printer which uses the following Colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, Light Cyan, and Light Magenta. The reason for the two light colors is not for more color but so you don’t see dots in the light areas of the print. The problem with 4 color is that whenever Cyan and Magenta are needed in the light areas of the print the dot is visible to the eye. But by using light colors a Very light dot is put in the highlight area instead of the darker color thus your eye cannot see this dot and it looks like a tint. This results in very smooth prints with visible dots minimized.

Why can’t you match all my Colors Exactly?

This falls back on the Color Gamut Issue described in the Archival Vrs. Non-Archival section. The Range of Colors our Printer is capable of are within the CMYK color Gamut. Your artwork is not made up of CMYK values thus we cannot recreate all the colors you are capable of creating. We try to get as close as possible but sometimes some color are impossible to re-create with CMYK ink set.

My Monitor shows a much brighter color than your print output? Why?

Monitors work in RGB. Printers work in CMYK. RGB files that are sent to the printer are converted to CMYK. RGB can display much more colors than CMYK is capable of printing. To see a more accurate view on your monitor Convert your File to CMYK in PhotoShop and you will see the colors will get much duller. Also if working in RGB mode in PhotoShop, open the Info palette. This is a desitometer. A densitometer is a color-measuring device. Wherever you move the cursor it will show the color information in CMYK Values. If any numbers have a (!) explanation point next to them this means they are out of CMYK color range. If you click on a out of Range color with the eye dropper tool, and look at it in the Color menu it will show a small box showing the CMYK equivalent which will really print next to the color you picked out. This means you can’t really depend on your monitor as much as you want to if most of your colors are out of range.