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Two very popular substrates used for giclee printing are canvas and watercolor paper. Either type presents unique opportunities for enhancements. Canvas is a very versatile material to work with. Once a giclee print is made on canvas, it can be "enhanced" by overpainting areas to give them texture and detail. This is commonly referred to as "embellishing". Oil and acrylics can be used; it is advisable to use water resistant canvas to avoid any ink bleeding. If not, you need to seal the print with a heavy coat of water or solvent base compound. After the coat is dry, embellishing can be accomplished with no damage to the inks.

Canvas needs to be coated with a giclee specific varnish. Not coating canvas will result in degradation and possibly yellowing of your prints. Coats can be applied by hand with a roller, with a high power automotive grade spray gun or with a coating machine. All these methods will lead to an even application. If a brush texture is preferred, texturing gels are a great way to apply brush strokes. These gels are water based and will dry clear. The effect is pretty stunning, giving the canvas deep blacks and deeper colors in addition to a texture similar to traditional oil or acrylics varnishes.

Another option is to lightly mix acrylic paints to the clear gels. The result is a semi transparent texture with color. The technique works particularly well with light areas of the print where the color in the gel can be seen. Black and white canvas prints can be colorized using this method.

Mounting canvas is traditionally done by stretching the material on frames. Lately a number of our clients as started to mount canvas on masonite boards. When done with the proper binding materials, mounting on boards is a very neat way to present giclee prints. One advantage of board mounting is that canvas will not "relax" due to humidity changes; this is a common problem with stretching, especially for very large prints.

Watercolor paper does not offer the same options as canvas with embellishing. Although enhancing can be done with watercolor paints, it is easy to ruin the print if not careful. Start with very diluted colors and build up the paint. Metallic colors, which are not available in giclee printing, are often used to embellish watercolor.

Watercolor prints can be mounted on floating frames and possibly with deckled edges. Deckled edges is the effect of making the edge of the print look like they were hand torn. There are edge rippers on the market than can be used to create beautiful and error free results. Combining this effect with a floating frame (where the print is mounted in a frame on a thick board) creates a very professional finished product. Some of the leading fine art photographers use this presentation to sell their art.

Giclee prints not only offer a superior product but are versatile in many ways just like original art work. In order to command higher prices and better chances of selling, stand out from the crowd by offering a unique product.

Fabio Braghi is the owner and printmaker of a Giclee printing company.

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