| Where
are good places to have your fine art giclée prints made?
Every week artists
ask us for suggestions on reputable places to print fine art giclée
prints and limited editions. So we asked around and heard about a well established giclee atelier, Fine Art Impressions.
We have visited
Gary Kerr's giclée studio twice. The first thing we noticed is that he is
a stickler for professional quality, both in the final print as in
the sophisticated equipment for digital repro photography and color
management.
All kinds of artists
came in while we were there. The facility had attractive exhibit space
too.
It is natural
to look for the best price, but then you end up with either junk or
a print you are ashamed of. If you put two prints next to each other,
one done at a cheap place and the other done at a really professional
fine art giclée printer, you can see the difference immediately. So
can your clients.
The f irst mistake
most people make when starting off to print giclee is a cheap scanner. The best two was to scan large works
of art is with a Cruse repro scanning system or a BetterLight. If
you are just starting (such as if you are an individual photographer
with little budget) then you might consider a Tarsia copy stand system
(you add the BetterLight camera; with the Cruse everything is built in as a turnkey system). Downside
of the alternative Kaiser rePRO stand is the small size it handles. If you have
a really large painting you need a Cruse with moving platform. Contact
info for Cruse is their distributor for USA kurt.ernst@crusedigital.com
or their long time installer and rep, Michael Lind, malind@msn.com
So right away
here is a good way to judge a fine art giclée printing company, how
do they scan, photograph, or otherwise digitize your work? If they use a Cruse or BetterLight scan
back, that is a good assurance of quality. The FLAAR course on digital photography discusses all the options in detail.
We just returned from visiting the Kerr atelier a second time (July 2004). We will be issuing additional reports. If you wish to have a capable company print your paintings or photographs as giclee on canvas or watercolor paper, we wholeheartedly recommend Fine Art Impressions.
Last
Updated August 5, 2004.
Previously updated Dec. 10, 2003, Jan. 6, 2003, Nov. 15, 2002. | 
