Is this what we can expect from Giclee prints?

[jj_4045]

I have a problem with a John Waterhouse Giclee print that I have in the shop. When I took the order in, everything appeared fine. I put the mats on it and a few days later, I took it out of my (protective sleeve) and noticed tiny pinholes on the print and a small piece of the print had fallen off. Almost like the print is flaking.

This was the first time that I have worked with a Giclee. Needless to say, the customer is not happy with the way the print looks and is demanding that I replace it.

I don't know how I ruined this. I am starting to wonder about the paper, weather conditions, etc.

Has anyone else come across a situation like this?

-------------------------------------
The above was taken from a custom framing site. This experience is not unique and happens to a number of Giclee prints.
How does the guy protect himself other than telling people NO LIABILITY at all if they bring in inkjet prints- high end or not?

[tim atherton]

This is about a "giclee" print (i.e reproduction) of a painting.

What's this got to do with Large Format photography?

[tim atherton]

Ahh - not I see - and fell for it, it's a troll from a no name, no history poster...

[Paul Butzi]

uh huh. Right.

First post ever, JJ. And you just *happen* to land on the most divisive topic possible.

Forget it. The whole flame war thing is just not interesting any more. And flame wars provoked by anonymous first time posters are really boring. Flame wars that just happen to be about the most divisive topic posted by anonymous first time posters are profoundly boring. Flame wars about the most divisive topic posted by an anonymous first time poster who claims to have found this stuff on some unnamed custom framing site are not only boring but disgusting.

Such posts on the most divisive topic, about stuff purported to come from some unnamed custom framing web site posted by an anonymous first time poster who does not even provide a email address deserve to be ignored or better yet deleted by the moderators.

[David Luttmann]

Yawn........

[John Berry ( Roadkill )]

Let me light my cigar before the flame goes out.

[Brian C. Miller]

Google does not have a match for the supposed quote.

JJ was the one who posted about the kid huffing compressed gasses, right?

[David R Munson]

I hear you can get high licking giclee prints.

[paulr]

I'm still waiting for someone to tell us what giclee means in french. isn't that a traditional ingredient in these threads?

[Richard Ide]

"I hear you can get high licking giclee prints."

Great! Now the RCMP have more to worry about besides our farming for export.

Paul,

I only concern myself with silver photographic processes; but regarding "giclee" I would much rather ejaculate than ejacuearly.

[fred arnold]

Of course you can get high licking them; the pigments are made from Australian Cane Toads mixed with California Hemp.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Of course you can get high licking them; the pigments are made from Australian Cane Toads mixed with California Hemp.

Hmmm....I am curious, why the heck were you licking a toad?...you seem to know a lot about the subject... :-)

[Alan Babbitt]

I'll bite.

Frankly, I don't trust the claims of inkjet longevity. Every, and I mean EVERY, inkjet print I have ever seen or made has faded noticeably within two or three years, and most have faded in much less time than that. Now, I don't have any information about what inks, papers or printers were used, but the real-world results seem to be pretty consistent. I have a few "traditional" B&W prints from more than 20 years ago that show absolutely no degradation despite being printed by a rank amateur with no concept of "archival processing". I also have many, many color prints from that era that show no fading at all.

Sorry, but you folks that champion the "giclee" process have a lot to prove, and very little real world data to prove it with. Get back to us in two, maybe three, decades and maybe we'll listen.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Alan, Alan, even I did not rise to the bait, this is an obvious troll.

I have read about ink jet prints flaking off, but I think this was a problem with the paper chosen for printing. This is not different that pt/pd, some papers just suck, the difference is that I can see the result right away.

[tim atherton]

Trying not to take the bait...

Jorge is correct - and what it is is actually bad processing/workflow.

It's not actually that the print/paper is flaking - but that small loose pieces of the coating or other paper fibers - usually some pinprick like some a touch larger get very lightly stuck to the surface of the paper. This is as a result of the process cutting up of sheets and rolls and really only happens witht he rag/watercolour type papers because they are more fiberous.

They are usually firmly attached enough that the pritner will print over them, but brush across the pritn aftwerwards and they will then flake off leavign a white spot.

It doesn't happen with every type of paper - some manufactueres are better than others (and like LF film some brands are cut, boxed and re-named by third party dealers - some of whome are more scrupulous than others in their cutting) - some papers I've never had flakes on (say, Arches Infinity) and some I do.

It doesn't usually come off with simply blowing or Dustoff - but all it takes is a firm brush of the sheet with a draftsmans brush. So it's simple bad processing/workflow.

None of us would think of loading film without dusting our holders, or printing our negs without dusting them - it's the same kind of thing - poor workmanship, not poor materials.

[tim atherton]

Fred, giclee is a term french vets use for the spurting of cow diarrhoea - I don't think I'd be going licking them....

[fred arnold]

Tim, Jorge,

Actually, I first heard about this back in college, then again when Dave Barry ran a column about the practice, asking, "who, other than Geraldo Rivera in search of higher ratings, would lick a toad?" Apparently their poison is hallucinogenic, so budget-conscious druggies were experimenting.

As for the reason not to, all I can say is that High School French was never as informative as this list.

[Matt Long]

RE Toad Licking. Have you ever wondered how many different things these folk licked before they discovered that a particular variety of toad is the one that does the trick?

[paulr]

"Have you ever wondered how many different things these folk licked ..."

A good (and scary) point.

Did you guys know that those hallucinogenic toads are illegal? Or that it's even be possible for something like a toad, which is indigenous to the area, to be illegal? supposedly you can get in trouble if they're found on your property ... which might mean trouble for some folks in the southwest, because the toads were living there first.

As a final question, do the toads lick themselves?

(this thread was made for drifting)

[Paul Butzi]

Did you guys know that those hallucinogenic toads are illegal?

Your petty, infantile threats don't scare me...

because my toad can lick your toad with one leg tied behind his back.

[paulr]

http://www.bufoalvarius.org/shepard.htm

bob and connie shepard got off, but you won't be so lucky, Butzi!

[Brian C. Miller]

No, Butzi will be let go because his toad's chemicals are used as part of the developer and toner.

[Paul Butzi]

Ok, now, Paul. That was just weird.

People dry the secretions from the toad and SMOKE it?

And this guy got so high that he claimed he could "hear the electrons jumping orbitals in his molecules". Seriously, that's not for me. My blood pressure rises when I hear the trucks use their jake brakes on the highway near my home - that's something like a mile and a half away.
If I could hear electrons change states, I'd lose what little mind I've got left in a great big hurry.

But I love the quote from the Calaveras County narcotics agent - "What is the human race going to do next? Grind up clarinets and smoke them?". And now that he's said that, I'm confident that some Calaveras resident is down in the basement, busy with mortar and pestle, grinding up a clarinet...

Wow, that's weird. That's all I can say about that - it's just weird.

[Paul Butzi]

creating hallucinogenic toads is not illegal.

But possessing them might be.

I hope the punishment is that they lock you in a room and make you listen to all your electrons changing states. Sure as heck would serve them right.

[Mark Sawyer]

I'm in Tucson, which is right in the middle of Colorado River Toad country. In the wet season, the little critters are all over the place. About ten years ago, a local doctor/national author (Andrew Weill, sp?) on alternative medicine did a cover story for a local weekly paper, and smoked some dried toad venom in the presence of the reporter, who of course reported it. It made for a lot of jokes, but it never caught on around here.

But I do sometimes see stories on it from California and elsewhere. Who knows? Maybe TTP (Toxic Toad Puss) will be the drug of the future...

Is this what we can expect from giclee prints?

[Brian C. Miller]

Oh, yeah, the obligatory dictionary definition. From WordReference.com: For giclée:
Principal Translations:
giclée nf spraying
giclée nf squirting

Additional Translations:
giclée nf spritz




"But I do sometimes see stories on it from California and elsewhere. Who knows? Maybe TTP (Toxic Toad Puss) will be the drug of the future..."

Hmmmmm......


But I do sometimes see stories on it from California and elsewhere. Who knows? Maybe GP (giclée printing) will be the drug of the future...

And so the narcotics agents of Calaveras County were given a new mission: the destruction of all prints, made with Toad Spray-It-On-Me Ink or not. Evidence indicated that Toad Toner was used to process prints made from Toad Skin Paper. Additional chemicals, Feral Toad Developer, Toad Stop (Go-Make-It-Baby) Bath, and Toad Good Times Fixation were also noted as being used.

[Oren Grad]

www.bufoalvarius.org/davisWeil.htm (http://www.bufoalvarius.org/davisWeil.htm)

[Mark Sawyer]

Wow, Brian... I bet you can hear the electrons jumping orbitals in your molecules...