GICLEE PRINTING - LONG LASTING PRINTS

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Several manufacturers have taken the lead in improving printer and ink technology, notably Epson and Hewlett-Packard. Perhaps Epson was the first to realize that there was a growing marketplace for better quality printers and that there were a large numbers of people including artists who care greatly about the quality and durability of a print. Epson first began making standard dot matrix printers in the late 1980's and then began to market higher quality printers first in 1994 with a 720 dpi printer and then in 1997 with high resolution 1440 dpi printers. However although these first printers had much improved technology the inks were still the same and fading in a short period of time was a common problem. In 2000 though Epson, seeing a growing demand among artists and others for longer lasting prints came out with a new dye ink and paper combination designed to resist light fading. Then a few months later they introduced "Archival Inks", pigment based inks which they initially claimed would last at least 200 years.

Now "Archival" is currently accepted pretty much as the standard term to identify an ink jet print with a longer display life. However it is a curious term, seemingly coined by Epson to describe its new print technology when it appeared in 2000. Archival comes from "archive" which means "a collection of historical documents or records". So how does this apply to inks? Perhaps it is related to the fact that we commonly speak of "archival materials" like acid free paper used in printmaking processes like etching or lithography. Epson seems to have borrowed this term for its own purposes, and consequently many of us now speak of "archival prints" meaning prints of long lasting quality. But in traditional printmaking archival usually means prints that will last upwards of 500 years. Now this is certainly not yet shown to be the expectation with any Giclee ink jet prints, although technology is moving in that direction rather quickly.

Giclee is a term that was coined in the later 1990's by a west coast master printmaker for a client to describe the prints that he was making on his high end Iris printer. Giclee is a French term derived from the work "gicleur" meaning nozzle. This term was invented to describe the high end prints made by this master printer but an unusual thing has happened. Over the years it has caught on as synonymous with indicating the highest of high quality ink jet prints. Giclee's are printed usually on high end and sometimes wide format printers with a wide gamut colors of inks and on the best coated papers, frequently acid free watercolor paper.

With this background in mind, let us return to the question "how long will Giclee prints last"? The first part of the answer is, it depends upon the inks and media used. If the inks are high quality and UV resistant then the images will be less likely to fade. Secondly, if the media used is a high quality material designed to receive good inks then this also inhibits fading. Most testing by independent researchers like Henry Wilhelm rate watercolor papers as the best media for long lasting prints. Photo papers are generally considered less durable as most have plastic coatings on both surfaces which prevents the inks from penetrating the paper, which makes them more vulnerable to damage and the effects of the environment. Canvas is also usually heavily coated to receive inks and therefore considered to have a shorter display life.

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