What is Iris Print?

Iris? Giclee? Are they the same thing?

Iris prints are also known as Giclee prints. In fact, Iris printing is a specific form of Giclee printing. Giclee is a term to describe fine art inkjet printing. So there are other types of Giclee (fine art inkjet) prints out there made by other printers but when you say Iris prints, it specifically means prints that are made with an Iris printer.

The Iris printer is considered the highest quality printer for this form of fine art inkjet printing. Giclee is a French term, loosely translated to "to spray" which is an appropriate description of the Iris printing method. The term "Giclee" was created to differentiate a commercial standard from the work of a fine art print and we use "Iris print" to differentiate other Giclee prints from prints specifically made with an Iris printer. The fine art prints made on an Iris printer are made with high quality inks printed on fine watercolor papers or canvas.

How does the Iris printer work?

The method for coaxing a fine art print from the Iris printer is a delicate work far removed from the Iris's original purpose of printing color proofs for offset lithographers. The Iris is a large drum based inkjet printer made up of a complex array of mechanics. The Iris squirts a million red blood cell sized droplets of ink from each of its four nozzles (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) every second at a speed of 85 miles per hour towards a drum rotating at a speed of 150 inches per second. These droplets are given an electric charge on their way to the drum either positive or neutral, this allows the printer to determine which should actually hit the drum and which should be deflected away to the waste system. This process produces a continuous tone image on the paper with an apparent resolution of 1800 dots per inch. See it in action

How are Iris prints made?

The procedure to print fine art prints starts with the artist selecting an image for the printer to produce. This image is captured on film and sent to the printer for scanning or an original is digitally captured. The scanned or digitally captured image is brought into the computer for sizing, cropping and color balancing. The most important step is then taken of converting the image from the computers RGB color space to that of the printers CMYK color space. A proof is made and sent back to the artist for critique, and corrections are applied as needed until the artist approves the proof image. It is this stage, where the artist and printer collaborate to bring the print to life, that differentiates a fine print from a commercial one. At this point the image is then ready for its final printing.

Reference: Edison State College, Bob Rauschenberg Gallery/research