Nov 13, 2011

A Visit to Hemlock Printers

This past week I went on an awesome tour with a small group to artists to Hemlock Printers in Burnaby, BC.  I have never really understood everything that can and is done to produce giclee. The manager Peter Madliger for the digital graphic arts section was wonderful to take us on a tour of the facility and answer all of our questions.  The artist that arranged it for us Lalita Hamill took a picture which we saw photographed and taken through most of the process.  (I say most, as they only did the first print and there were still things to be done in colour matching to make it match the original.)  I really wanted to thank them again for taking the time to walk us through the whole process. 

Photographing the Work


Talking about inks and colours for off set printing and digital printing
Adjusting Colours and comparing to originals 


Lalita's Originial with the first print

I did learn a few things that may be of interest if you plan to produce giclees:  if the piece has lots of texture it is better to photograph it than take a digital shot (digital shots will flatten the picture);  oils should be photographed without the final glaze and without the frame.  After it is glazed then do the colour matching; prints on paper last longer than those on canvas; canvas giclees need to be treated with a UV coating; the  process has a good rub factor and so will not damage easily; they are usually finished in a Luster or Gloss finish, matt is seldom used; a good place will keep a printer’s proof so they can colour match on later orders; the “wrapped” part of the canvas is handled differently by different printers, some will use a mirror image to cover the space, some will just put it on smaller bars and at Hemlock they continue the picture around the corner taking information from the main picture; of course the big cost is the initial scan and colour proofing so their minimum order is 5 prints of a picture.  One final note was taking the tour with a group was good because there was a good variety of questions asked which helped us all learn. 


4 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for all that info Wendy - it is interesting that prints on paper last longer than those on canvas - I would never have expected that!!! :)

Brenda Hill CDM said...

Hey Wendy, that was really interesting

Studio at the Farm said...

Sounds like it was a great learning experience.

Wendy Mould AFCA said...

It was a great learning experience, I knew they could do lots with Photoshop when they were colour matching but it is amazing what they can do. I realize I only know a tiny, tiny part of Photoshop