Glossary
Glossary1. What is a print?
A print is a graphic image that has been duplicated one or more times. There are various techniques used to create a print, such as serigraphy (or silk screening), lithography, etching, and offset printing. Prints, especially limited editions, are considered fine art and can be highly valued.
2. What is the difference between a wall poster, a fine art poster, and a fine art print?
Generally, the difference is in the level of quality. Wall posters are typically printed in large volume on less expensive paper, fine-art posters are printed on high-quality paper, and fine-art prints are printed with careful attention to true colour reproduction on high-quality paper.
Diverse Images offers a large selection of items ranging from wall posters to fine art prints, and even limited-edition prints.
3. What is a reproduction?
A reproduction is a copy or facsimile of an original work. The end product of a reproduction is significantly faithful in its resemblance to the form and elements of the original.
4. What is moulding?
Moulding is the wood or metal material used for framing a print or poster. At Diverse Images, we use the finest quality mouldings, just as you would find in traditional fine framing stores.
5. What is foam board?
Foam board is a lightweight, stiff backing mounted or affixed to a print or poster prior to framing. The heat and pressure of our dry-mount press activates the adhesive coating on the foam board forming a smooth, permanent bond with the print.
6. What is acrylic glassing?
Acrylic glassing is a pane or sheet of plastic composite often used in place of glass where safety and weight are a concern. Acrylic is much more impact-resistant than conventional glass and half the weight.
7. What is a lithograph?
A lithograph is created using a printing technique based on the principle that oil and water do not mix. Using oil-based ink or a grease crayon, an image is drawn on a flat stone or metal plate. Water is applied to the surface and is repelled by the areas where oil-based images have been drawn. The entire surface is then coated with an oil-based ink that adheres only to the areas drawn in oil, ink or crayon. The image is then printed on paper. Lithography became a popular printing technique because thousands of exact replicas could be made that were like drawings on paper, without degradation of the image.
8. What is offset lithography?
Offset lithography is an industrialised version of the same printing technique as lithography. By using modern printing presses, high-quality reproductions are produced faster and in higher volumes than with manually-produced lithographs.
9. What is a serigraph/silkscreen?
Silkscreening, which was introduced around 1907. The artist prepares a tightly stretched screen, usually of silk, and blocks out areas not to be printed by filling the mesh on the screen with a varnish-link substance. Paper is placed under the screen, and ink is forced through the still-open mesh onto the paper by means of a squeegee. A print made by this process involves the use of stencils. Paint is applied to a fabric screen, penetrating areas not blocked by a stencil. Several stencils are used to produce a multi coloured print. As a commercial medium, many contemporary artists such as William Tolliver have used silk-screen printing. Serigraphs are usually hand pulled, while Silkscreens utilise the latest automated printing technologies.
10. What is a giclee or digital print?
A fine art print that has become more precise with the advent of the revolutionary printing process Giclee (ghee-clay) a French term meaning \"spray of ink\". In the Giclee process, a fine stream of ink (more than four millions droplets per second) is sprayed onto archival art paper or canvas. Each piece of paper or canvas is carefully hand mounted onto a drum, which rotates during printing. Exact calculation of hue, value and density direct the ink from four nozzles. This produces a combination of 512 chromatic changes (with over three million Colours possible) of highly saturated, non-toxic water-based ink. Since no screens are used in Giclee printing, the prints have a higher resolution than lithographs and the dynamic Colour range is greater than serigraphs.
11. What is a numbered print?
Numbering refers to labelling on a print that specifies its place in the order of its production when it is one of a limited edition.
12. Limited Editions (L/E) /Signed Numbered (S/N)?
Prints that are authenticated with the artists\' signature, the total number of impressions in the edition, and the order in which impression is signed. The artist pencils in his signature and a number on the bottom of the print. Pencil is usually used on reproductions because it does not affect paper over time. The number appears as a fraction. Numbering example, L/E 5/1500, indicates the fifth print of a limited edition of 1500 impressions.
13. What is an original?
An original work is considered an authentic example of the works of an artist, rather than a reproduction or imitation.
14. What is a canvas transfer?
A canvas transfer is a print or poster image that has been transferred and fixed to a canvas surface. The result is a piece of printed art that has the appearance of an original canvas painting without the high cost usually associated with original artwork. Our selection of canvas transfers are available stretched onto a wooden frame, ready to hang.
15. What is a hand coloured print?
A hand coloured print is a black and white print that has been individually coloured by an artist using high quality watercolour paints. The artist uses layers of paint to bring depth and vibrancy to the colours. Our selection of hand coloured prints are painted using traditional techniques that give each piece a rich, higher quality look usually associated with original art.
16. Are there significant quality differences between a giclee, a serigraph and a lithograph?
In terms of resolution, a giclee print has the highest resolution and colour range.
Giclee printmaking offers one of the highest degrees of accuracy and richness of colour available in any reproductions technique. Giclée printmaking provides a luminosity and brilliance that represents the artist\'s original work better than any reproduction technique available today.
A serigraph is created when paint is \'pushed\' through a silkscreen onto paper or canvas. A different screen is used for each colour in the print, and this results in a print with great colour density and many qualities of the original piece in terms of colour saturation. This process also adds some texture to the final product.
A lithograph is the least manually intensive reproduction technique, and in turn, is not as expensive as a serigraph or giclee. Although images can have a high resolution, and excellent appearance, they will not have the same degree of resolution or colour density as a serigraph or giclee.
17. Will the value of a limited edition increase like other collector\'s items?
By their nature of being limited in number, demand for certain limited edition prints can be greater than the number of reproductions produced for the edition. Once an edition is sold out from the publisher, which means that the print is no longer available from the publisher but may still be available from an authorised dealer, the prints are considered to be on the Secondary Market. This means that the print can be bought and sold by any dealer or individual, often above issue price, depending on supply and demand.
18. What is meant by the term \'acid-free\'?
Acid-free paper or canvas has been treated to neutralise its natural acidity in order to protect fine art and photographic prints from discolouration and deterioration.
19. Why does it take longer to get my limited edition print than it does to get a poster?
We order each limited edition from the publisher upon immediate demand. Therefore, we must take shipping time into account. In the event that you choose to have us frame your limited edition print, we must also allow time to custom frame your print to your exact specifications.
20. What is an artist\'s proof, or what does A/P mean?
A small group of prints set aside from an edition for an artist or printer\'s use. Typically, some of the first prints pulled from a limited edition of prints are marked as an A.P. and [sometimes] left unnumbered. Artist\'s proofs generally draw a higher price than other impressions.
21. Why are limited edition prints so much more expensive than other prints on your website?
The premium price of limited editions is a function of the limited supply of each product, and the exceptionally high quality of these prints. Typically, the more manually intensive the process is, the more each limited edition print will cost.