Canvas prints dye sublimation or giclee
A lot of people ask us why our canvas prints are so expensive. There are three main types of canvas print and lots of different ways of stretching and printing them. Canvas pictures are not always what they seem
canvas prints have been around now for about 7 years with the first ones costing an absolute fortune and being mainly printed onto low grade canvas and with a hefty large format printer.
canvases really started to come into their element when Epson introduced the first large format printers with speed like the epson 9600 and the epson 9800. These print machines were the first to use inks that would last and give photographic performance every time. They were cheap to run and canvas prints came out looking like vibrant studio photographs.
The only problem with the canvas prints from these machines was that the inks lasted, the canvas lasted but you needed to have a layer of varnish to stop the inks coming off the canvas.
Typically you will see canvas sellers stating that their inks last 75 years. This is what is written on the back of the pack so to speak. canvas prints will last that long – so we think but the varnish tends to yellow over time and peel.
One of the latest forms of print for canvas is Dye Sublimation. Dye sublimation takes a sheet of transfer paper as you used to use to make t-shirts. The image is then printed onto the transfer paper and laid flat over a real woven canvas. The canvas and the transfer paper are then rolled through a gigantic heated roller until the image is pressed and heated into the weave of the canvas.
The end result is a picture that does not need any varnish and is vibrant beyond belief. One can still see the weave of the canvas prints but they are filled with ink instead of simply laying on top.
Dye sublimation prints can be washed like clothing, used inside or out and hung in any home in the house. This is the new choice for canvas prints and set to be the norm when choosing large format art.
Source Four Blank Walls
