Giclee Printing

The process of printing fine art large digital photos is called giclee. It is commonly pronounced zhee-clay. The word comes from the French verb "gicler", meaning to squirt, to spray.

How Giclee Printing Started

The term was first used on "Iris Prints" created in the early 1990's. The "Iris Model Four" color drum inkjet was a commercial printer that was made so companies could preview work before it is mass produced.

Giclee, the term, was coined to differentiate between fine art prints and commercial prints. Since the process of canvas inkjet printing is relatively cheap, giclee is today used around the world by many artists. Although, at first the term caused a big debate and some of it is still existent.

Giclee Printing Affecting Today

Giclee, fine art printed, is used today everywhere. Art has taken its way into becoming more digital, and so the process of turning the digital to hand-feeling possible has become very popular.

Print on canvas is one of the forms where giclee shines. The inkjet printers are a perfect solution, for private people and their photo-album-worthy photos, and also for professional photographers.