IRIS GICLEE PRINTING

I purchased my first IRIS printing machine in December of 1988. I still remember the excitement of that day. It was the beginning of a whole new world. At that time, it had unique mechanical ability to produce an unprecedentedly small droplet size (3 Pico liters). This allowed for the creation of full color, continuous tone imagery, with no evidence of the machine technology. Clearly, this was a breakthrough.

Over these many years, Harvest Productions has tested virtually every generation of new printing technology. Harvest has employed, since 1994, printing machines other than the IRIS for specialized purposes. That is to say, the IRIS is limited to 30x40 format and the Roland 540 allowed for a 54” format. Although the Roland didn’t print to the same quality as the IRIS, it was justified by the customer requirement of size. We currently use a number of different printing machines, but in each case we employed them for a specialized purpose. Early in 2007, we were for the first time, able to manufacture an IRIS quality print with technology other than IRIS. In fact, the color looked virtually identical, but had a hidden benefit.

The IRIS machine requires the use of dye-based inks. You might think of dye-based inks as being similar to water color inks. Everyone knows that oil based paints have greater durability than dye-based watercolors. There’s a parallel in digital printing. It’s simply the case that pigmented inks have not had the ability to replace the IRIS printing machine in total for the last seventeen years. But that’s changed now. The advent of new canvas substrates and inks for non-IRIS printing technology for the Roland 540 and 740 we now can replicate the color quality previously only available on the IRIS. Since April of this year Harvest has been working to re-color correct its IRIS imagery to the more stable pigmented inks. Harvest has now retired its twenty-two IRIS printing machines in favor of Roland technology for the purpose of giving its customers the extended longevity. This is, admittedly, a tremendous amount of re-proofing work in order to attain the state-of-the-art Giclee, but it’s a requirement. As a member of the Giclee Printers Association, Harvest pledges to use and support “the highest quality available to the world culture at this time”. With the advent of modern materials, it would be imprudent of Harvest to keep its established customers on a technology that didn’t offer the longevity advantages of pigmented inks.

One of the responsibilities a mature company has is in carrying forward it’s customers with an integrated upgrade path. Our customers expect that, regardless of the amount of time that has gone by, that they will be able to sell there on-demand product with the confidence that it represents state-of-the-art technology. We have been committed to this since our founding of the GPA and remain faithful to that commitment.

ART BASEL 2007

This show is not for the faint of heart. It truly is a challenge to the mind. I wonder at the definition of the art I saw as Contemporary Art. I think Contemporary means current or of the time you’re living. If this is so, I live in a world without limits, without restrictions, without context. And I guess I do...but wow is it a shock when you face the raw intellectual truth all at once.

The Convention Center's main hall housed hundreds of art exhibits, each in a world of its own. The art is intended to blow your mind...and it works. From the moment you walk in the door you are rendered speechless. This comes from the incredible challenge your mind has in making sense of what your eyes perceive. A sense that I am still seeking. Having spent 20 years as a Giclee printer, I’ve reproduced over 83,000 separate images. Some haven’t inspired me, most I enjoyed, and of course a few I fell in love with. The point is, all the art that I’m used to seeing is art that is intended to be inspirational or comforting or in some way pleasing. The art exhibited at Basel did not strive for any of these familiar artistic effects. Instead it challenged the identity of art. I mean I’m only calling it art because they did; not because I recognized it as art.

The first booth encountered was a dark room that you looked into. At the end of the room was a blurry picture. You could hardly tell that it was a pond surrounded by trees. Slowly, very slowly, agonizingly slowly, the image came into focus. As I watched, second after second, and minute after minute, the image became clearer. As each minute passed, I expected some profound event. I expected to see some image that was worth waiting for. After nine minutes of constantly watching the same image slowly come into focus, I because desperate to believe that I hadn’t wasted nine minutes. At the end of ten minutes exactly, the quite ordinary picture of a pond in a forest was clearly visible. That’s all. That’s it. I presume the point had to do with the art causing me to have an emotion. I did have an emotion. It was a feeling of disappointment and foolishness. I walked away having been affected by the art.

What do you do with a picture in a dark room that takes ten minutes to come into focus? Ultimately it's a picture of a circular pond surrounded by trees.....and what??? I don't know. There is no picture to offer you as cameras are forbidden.

Or what do you make of hundreds of cigarettes glued to a white wall; filter first, in an abstract pattern? The pattern resembled trees, but I'm sure they weren't trees at all. I'm left bothered and bewildered.

Photography was discouraged, so I apologize for the few bad photos that I was able to secure. It seemed absurd to me that they were wasting my time, insulting me, and I wasn’t able to even take a photo.

Notice the shot of the crab-like mechanism which slowly scraped and crawled across a concrete floor. It doesn’t seem that this is a good example of hydraulics or metal work or programming. It’s just a group of plow shovels welded together, with six hydraulic legs that respond to a primitive computer program, making it ever so smoothly; grind its way back and forth. It anyone sees value in this, please e-mail me. It’ll make me feel better.

My favorite was a chandelier mobile made of ice cubes. These ice cubes melted and the drops fell to a think plastic stretched surface. When the droplets inevitably fell, they made a noise. The sound of dropping water on a drum. A microphone picked up and amplified the droplet sound. Presumably, the art event was over when all the ice melted. This art experience was offered in a limited edition of three.

It's all good, but you really have to be eclectic to want or even observe this art. It's a testimony as to the wealth and freedom the world possesses today that we, as a society, can afford the experimentation and unique expressions that a few can demonstrate thoughts which have value in themselves without any rhyme or reason. It's cool that these things can be done, but truly overwhelming when viewed en masse at Art Basel.

TO PRINT OR NOT TO PRINT - THAT IS THE QUESTION

Recently I was asked by Dan Mullen, Assistant Editor for Decor & Volume magazines "Your current opinions on whether an artist should own their own printer or hire a printer". That is a profound question, the answer to which changes based on an artist's objective.

The key word in Dan's question is "artist". I can only presume that an artist is a person that creates original images to be presented in a two-dimensional art print. I phrase these words carefully, because we at Harvest are now pioneering imagery reproduction in three dimensions. So, it's back to an artist who wants to make prints.

In the early days of printmaking, it was uncertain as to whether an originals reproduction would be pleasing. That is to say, no one really knew what an image was going to look like, when printed on paper or canvas. I remember the first print I ever made was the color test pattern off the IRIS printer in 1988. I sincerely felt the test pattern was art in itself. It just seemed like a miracle, that all those colors could be displayed on a 30"x40" piece of paper. Each time we received a new artist and prototyped their image on to a paper print, we were eager to study it. It required study, because there was many unproven variables in the digital process that made it impossible to predict the end result. Bit by bit, component by component, there has been introduced control tools expressly for the purpose of predicting a color rendition. Everything from the recording device, it's optics, it's resolution to the monitor it's color correctness and stability to the color management software running the calibrations to the printing machine and it's drop size as well as it's consistency to the post coating materials that are currently used greatly improves the likelihood of a predictable outcome. So, one reason that artist's used to have printing machines, was because it was their only way of controlling their final product. Today there are number of Giclee printers who can do a more than adequate job, and give most artists a more than adequate product. There should be no reason why an artist would want to take control of their printing due to quality concerns.

That brings us to economy. Perhaps an artist would need to own their own printing machine so they could make prints cheaper. Of course, the answer to that question would be in the definition of cheaper. There's material cost, labor cost, time costs, depreciation costs, defective product costs, but most important of all, there's opportunity costs to consider. One would expect, and indeed it's my experience that an artist has more free time and makes more money than a printer. Or, you might think that if an artist had a certain amount of time to dedicate to the development of his career and brand name that his time would be better spent painting rather than printing. I've never seen an artist get a promotion to being a printer. But I have seen printers who have received a promotion to be an artist. This would imply that an artist's time is best spent at the creation of his craft and development of his customer base. Time spent in the print room is time wasted. Most of the printing companies that I've known over these years, have evolved into publishing companies. Or, gone bankrupt being a Giclee Printer. When they go bankrupt it's usually depreciation that gets them. That is to say, technology evolves and changes, it takes more of an investment one might think to stay current. If the technology improvements occur before you have the opportunity to pay for your last purchase, you end up broke. Many Many Artists are locked into Epson 9500's without the ability to work on a 9600 which was followed by the 10500 which is now the 9800 which will be replaced this year by a new Epson model, the 9880. This one example of Epson Technology evolution has left many owners of printing equipment "high and dry". The manufacturer can't afford the integration of an upgrade path. That's called depreciation costs. The very definition of a Giclee print is "The Highest Quality Print Available to This Culture at This time". This was decided many years ago in the Giclee Printers Association (GPA). So, dealing with depreciation is an important part of being an art printer and a good reason why artist's would not want to own their own printing machine.

ART BASEL

We’re getting really excited about Art Basel here at Harvest Productions. Never been there before, but the BUZZ is becoming a drone.

In our excitement, we decided to make a contribution somehow, so we created art. We got together with a budding Pop artist, Elayne Rogers, for her contribution to the event. She submitted a unique piece, to be made as Toujours. Again, we’re pushing the envelope with the deliberate objective of expanding art reproduction milieu. Her original work was a cognitive drawing in felt pen. It’s kind of a moreau’ish, I can’t tell what she’s thinking of, but it looks cool in a pre-cognitive way. At any rate, we’re taking this original drawing and printing it on 1/8” acrylic. We’ve come back across the acrylic with white ink. Let me say that again. You can’t print art reproductions with white ink, but this one has been printed with white ink, which is necessary because we’re printing on a clear transparent material. Then we hand-pressed gold leaf to the back of the acrylic illuminating the drawing. Looks very unusual and I might say pleasing in a quirky way. At any rate, we compliment Ms. Rogers on her contribution to the show. They’re a limited edition of 32 signed and numbered by the artist. She and we will be giving them away during the course of the show. No, we don’t know who we’re giving them to and we also don’t know why, but if you see us in the show, ask for one. If we still have any of the thirty two left, we’ll hand it right over for your viewing and collecting pleasure. I think it’s a little piece of history.

p.s. below is a photo of the guy with the prints in his bag.

THE FULFILLMENT OF GICLEE PRINTING

As markets naturally mature, there’s an on-going demand for consolidation as well as innovation. Who would ever have imagined the services that a Giclee printer needs to render today, only a few years ago. I guess it all comes down to streamlining, and efficiency and reducing waste. Over these many years, Harvest Productions has routinely had customers pick up completed prints or most often, we would ship to them, in tubes or boxes, prints on a global basis. It used to be that they would have their own stretcher and framer and shipper/delivery service in order to be able to complete their sale and collect their reward. More and more customers are demanding that this service be all in one, all in-house. Many times I believe it was expected that the way to contain costs was to do as much as you could yourself. In principal, I think this is still correct, in fact but it doesn’t pan out at all. If each customer had a constant sales rate, thereby manufacturing a constant number of prints per day or per week, then they could staff for that consistency. If you didn’t include their management time, you’d save money. But that’s not a world that many of us live in today. In truth, what happens more often than not is that sales are delayed, sales are advanced, sales are below, sales are above – whatever it is that we expect. It’s a global marketplace and on average, things are better than ever but any specific seems to be able to change at any moment. Hence, Harvest fulfillment.

It was in January of this year that Harvest began its first all-inclusive fulfillment services. It was a specific customer who had offices and personnel as well as packaging space and a relationship with its vendors and freight carriers that wanted to close its operation. They had evaluated their cost of operation over the last three years, and knew what their “per unit” fulfillment costs were. They made me a simple offer. We’d be happy to pay you what it costs us anyway if we don’t have to manage it. Quite honestly, I didn’t know what my costs would be and I went on their records and agreed to bring fulfillment under our roof. It’s worked out well for both parties, but for reasons we had not anticipated.

Instead of us making money on fulfillment and them saving money, we ended up enjoying more print orders and they ended up enjoying more sales. Turns out the time that they were spending on customer satisfaction, delivery and accuracy issues, was better spent finding new markets. Their overall sales have increased 23%, which I’m told, relates to a 37% increase in gross margin. Our additional print orders further saturate our overhead costs, allowing us to have lower average rent expense. All in all, a Win Win.

Today, we service six companies in total, some with “white label” as well as some that require the actual installation of the final product. It’s a big chore to keep track of costs, but in the end I think its good business and I’d recommend it.

NEW APPLICATION FOR CANVAS PRINTS

As technology and innovation continue to evolve, there’s an ever-increasing need for innovation and unique applications. Harvest Productions is proud to introduce the new “sticky Giclée”.

The first use of Giclee canvas might have come into practice with the development a new retired canvas called “BullDog Blue Dot” canvas. That canvas was very expensive because it was made to be used with delicate dye inks and required gelatin emulsion surfaces to be applied by machinery which was literally erected in 1894. that canvas had the unique quality, at that time, to be able to resist cracking when stretched. Stretcher bars evolved into custom profiles that allowed the canvas to move back and forth as the humidity and temperature changed. Subsequently the stretched canvas was always framed and had a cost reflecting that. Perhaps it was the launching of Michael Godard Fine Art Giclee Prints that popularized the contemporary “gallery Wrap” look. These products were made on a newer canvas technology and allowed the art piece to be stretched around the sides and adhered to the back. The traditional. ¾ “ stretcher bar didn’t’ give the art piece enough substance so thicker stretcher bars were employed. As time has gone on, the most common stretcher bar thickness for gallery wraps is 2”. Again, these have customized profiles, ad the cost of the product that hangs on the wall is reflective that there is no glass and no frame needed.

As it turns out, frames and glass is a big part of the overall cost, often times much greater than the giclee itself. So, we’re introducing a new product to the market called “Sticky Giclee” which is simply a Giclee print that does not require any stretcher bar at all. Of course, it doesn’t require any frame or glass either. The sticky giclee print is simply a new innovation in canvas called Lime Dot, which allows a self-adhesive back to be applied to the canvas. With the adhesive in place, the canvas is simply peeled and applied to the wall. It’s more a very economical design problem than a fine-art requirement. But it certainly does open up whole new opportunities for how to give ambiance to a room without making such a large financial decision. The maximum sizes for these décor art Giclee’s are 60” b 80” with the most economical size being 30” x 60”. The surface of these sticky Giclee’s are washable with mild soaps but can be abused through sharp abrasion or exposure to strong solvents. As this is a totally new product line, I encourage you to talk to your Harvest sales representative about how it may serve you. We hope it’s a contribution to the entire industry for which we remain a grateful part.

Giclee Canvas Options

In a quick count that I took before I began this writing, I found over forty different possible selections of something called Giclée canvas. One might wonder why these different canvases are available. I don’t’ have all the answers to that question, but I can help.

To begin with, many of the canvases are redundant. That is to say, they are the same or similar in construction and printability. Some of them are actually the same product with different names. I’m not intending this to be a “tell all” book, but I do think it’s worthwhile to understand what the purposes of these different categories of canvas are. You’d want to know because like every consumer, you’re interested in optimizing the quality of the product that you’re producing; the longevity of the product you’re creating, and the price that you’re paying for the different products.

Let’s talk about quality in Giclée canvas. The correct approach to an evaluation of quality in Giclée canvas has to be relative to the original piece of art in question. As an example, if the original being reproduced was a watercolor on paper…..canvas wouldn’t be appropriate at all. A watercolor produced on canvas is generally unappealing because it has that unconscious quality of fake. By this I don’t mean a forgery, I mean an inappropriate usage of the technology relative to the artist’s original intent. That’s an easy example. A more difficult one would be a choice of Giclée canvas for an oil painting. But still, there’s good reason for thought and selection.

Oil painting originals have their variegations and differences intentionally. An artist who’s beginning a creation deliberately selects a canvas weave, a canvas material content, a canvas size, a canvas weight and a canvas white point. It’s correct that in the artist’s reproduction process, he would again select the substrate that was appropriate for the look and feel that he put into the original. Of course it’s correct that any piece of art, in theory, can be printed on any piece of canvas. So, there’s a lot of room for overlapping and for casual concern.

However, some simple guidelines in choosing your giclee canvas for the reproduction of oil original would be:

Is your original a deeply saturated brilliantly colored work of art?

If it is, you’d surely want to lean in the direction of using a high gloss, high luminant canvas such as BullDog’s Platinum Dot Canvas. I don’t’ mean to plug this particular product, but I’m very familiar with it. It represents the highest capability in the category of luminance and saturation. That is to say, the light reflects back more through the inks and makes the colors appear as though looking through a stain glass window: it holds the maximum amount of ink load which allows the saturated areas to be faithfully reproduced. You’re welcome to seek any canvas in this description for your reproduction of highly colorful and bright oil original. This type of canvas is routinely used with a super gamut ink on typically a Roland printing machine.

But what if your original didn’t require all of that luminance?

Perhaps your original is a neutral piece, where the effect that you’re trying to achieve is more subdued. Perhaps a landscape of a shaded glen; In this case, a canvas that carried a lower ink load and that didn’t provide the transparence of light being reflected further away from a brilliant white base would be completely acceptable. An example of that canvas might be a Red Dot canvas printed on a Mutoh printer with OEM Mutoh inks. The color range of this canvas and this machine is completely suitable for a neutral original. The Mutoh printing machine is fast and it runs fairly easily. So why go through the extra effort for super gamut inks when the Mutoh OEM inks are just fine?

A third category of Giclée canvas needs might be for high key images, or images that don’t have a lot of saturated colors. A great example would be an image of a Snow Fox in a Snow Storm. It doesn’t take a lot of special inks or canvases to produce this type of an image, although the texture of the canvas itself would wind up being a very important element. This type of image could be easily printed with a water resist canvas. Water resist canvases are desirable because they don’t require post coating to protect the ink placement. That is, if you didn’t want to coat the print because you didn’t have the facility, you’d be well advised to print these prints on a Green Dot canvas, because it would be easier and less expensive, and at the same time, the surface of the Green Dot is a smooth chalky, all together pleasing surface.

So, if you know what you’re going to print, and you’re going to print it consistently, then it’s wise to go through the process of matching your giclee canvas and ink to the original. If you don’t know just what images you might be printing, in almost all circumstances, you’d be fine in choosing the widest gamut, highest ink load, best white point, completely luminant glossy canvas Platinum Dot. For the absolute best result, it’s really best to consult your printer relative to how the image reproduction should be handled, as there certainly are other considerations such as the way the image is captured to begin with, the particular person who’s doing the color matching, and the type of post treatment a giclee might get before it goes to market.