Intaglio Printing — [in' tal' yoh'] The collective term for several image processes in which prints are made from ink trapped in the grooves of an incised metal plate. Etching and engraving are the most typical examples.

Serigraph — [ser'a graf] A stencil method of printmaking in which an image is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface.

Mezzotint — [met' soh' tint'] An intaglio process that is tonal rather than linear. A metal plate is first worked with a curved serrated tool called a rocker, raising burrs over the surface to hold the ink and print as a soft dark tone. The design is then created in lighter tones by scraping out and burnishing areas of the roughened plate so that they hold less ink, or none, in the highlights.

Etching — [ech' ing] An intaglio process in which an etching needle is used to draw into a wax ground applied over a metal plate. The plate is submerged in a series of acid baths, each biting into the metal surface only were unprotected by the ground. The ground is removed, ink is forced into the etched depressions, the unetched surfaces wiped, and an impression is printed.

Mixed Media — [mikst' me' de' a'] A technique involving the use of two or more artistic media such as ink and pastel or painting and collage. The various media are combined to create one composition.

Encaustic — [en' kos' tik] The art or technique of painting with hot wax colours that are fused after application into a continuous layer and fixed to a surface.

Oil Paint — [oil paint] A slow drying paint made when pigments are mixed with an oil, linseed oil being the most traditional. The oil dries with a hard film and the brightness of the colours are protected.

Giclée — (Zhee-clay) is an individually produced, high-resolution fine art print now considered to be the most accurate technique for reproducing an artist's original works of art. The new high definition printing technique was developed in the United States during the 1990s, and is now the high end standard of the arts world. The Giclée is unsurpassed in terms of matching the original artwork and also in terms of conservation. Thanks to new archival inks, conservation has been greatly improved from the offset lithography.

Giclées are superior to traditional lithography in several ways. The gamut of color and resolution for Giclées is far beyond that of lithography or serigraphy. The colors are richer, brighter, last longer, and are so high-resolution that they are virtually continuous tone, rather than tiny dots. Giclées can be printed on a number of media, from canvas to watercolor paper. This renders an amazingly smooth and consistent image, a Museum Quality Fine Art Reproduction.

Since the digital image includes every subtlety and nuance of the original -- including the smallest details of light and shadows such as the textures of the paint and canvas or paper -- the fine art Giclée is often indistinguishable from the original work of art.

The process consists of a very sophisticated printer (with nozzles tinier than a human hair) that sprays millions of micro-droplets a second onto the media (paper or canvas). The Giclée is printed one line at a time and it may take an hour to complete a single 30" x 30" sheet.