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Vashon Island Imaging Fine Quality Giclée and Laser Printing
'September Special' Art Quality Laser Printing and Publishing Vashon Island Imaging now offers high-quality laser printing and spiral binding to its roster of art-printing services. Konica-Minolta® technology is now employed by the company to print high-end business and professional publications. Douglas Mesney, owner and manager of Vashon Island Imaging, explains: "We now offer art-quality printing for those who want their brochures and flyers to have a higher quality than was previously available on the Island." The laser printing technology was originally brought on line to print a picture book that required the very finest printing quality. The printing company's laser printer outputs on stocks up to 300gsm in sizes up to 18X12, with full duplex. The C552 printing machine's outstanding specifications can be learned at kmbs.konicaminolta.us/content/about/news/c65222409.html Spiral® binding has also been added to Vashon Island Imaging's art publishing services. Mesney explains that "...a lot of artists and writers prefer spiral binding. Spirals are much nicer for calendars, portfolio collections, recipe books and the like". Giclée Prepress - The Art of Giclée, Douglas Mesney's book about pixel-perfect printing,is being printed and distributed by Vashon Island Imaging. The company offers fine-arts giclée printing and finishing in addition to art-quality laser printing. More information about the book is at www.gicleeprepress.com and Mesney's blog about pixel-perfect printing is at gicleeprepress.blogspot.com. Laser Printing Prices If you are doing a poetry collection, cookbook, calendar, foldout, portfolio book, model head sheets or other special project, Vashon Island Imaging gives job quotes. Job rates are discounted per-sheet and multiple-sheet printing prices. Many paper types are available including text and cover stocks up to 300gsm in weight and 18 X12 inches in size. Special media like acetate report covers can also be printed. We are happy to quote your job. The following prices are based on 118gsm uncoated text paper.
Spiral® Binding Prices
Fine-Arts Giclée Printing and Finishing Services Giclée is the French word for high quality digital printing. The technique uses digital imaging technology, pigmented ultra-chrome inks, and associated fine-arts archival media. Many art galleries, photographic galleries, and museums use giclée printing for their art reproductions. Giclée is preferred because it provides the highest dynamic tone range of any printing process. Dynamic tone range is the total number of colors that a printing machine or display device can show. Fine detail is another reason giclée prints are preferred. The detail comes from extremely high resolution... higher than any other printing process (except some forms of photography). Resolution refers to the number of dots or lines that can be 'resolved' (printed) per inch. More dots mean finer detail. The Difference Is In The Dots Printing machines use four basic ink colors, Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black (called CMYK). By printing each of the four colors as small dots, colors can be intermingled in much the same way artists do when they 'stipple' colors together. That is how the four-color process is able to make thousands of tones out of just four colors. If you look at a magazine picture through a magnifying glass, you can see the dots. Different printing methods apply the dots in different ways. In simple terms, most methods can be likened to a rubber stamp. The number of dots you can squeeze into an inch depends on the type of printing plate and it's quality. The paper surface and absobency makes a difference too. Try rubber stamping onto copy paper and then on toilet paper and you'll get the idea. When you look up close at the dots you can see their sharp edges and pattern. If the printing is good, each dot will be well defined with sharp edges and plenty of 'white space' around it. The physical aspects of obtaining high-quality dots sets the limitation of how many can be printed per inch. However, generally speaking newspaperts are printed with 65 lines/dots per inch comparing to 300 for fine quality printing. Some of the names of printing processes using the 'stamping' method are 'offset,' 'letterpress,' and 'laser'. 'Rotogravure' printing extends the dynamic tone range by using absorbant paper to suck the ink out of tiny 'ink wells' instead of stamping it onto hard-surface papers. Each dot is etched into the printing plate, like tiny potholes instead of bumps. The process of absorption creates dots with soft edges and where the soft edges of different colors overlap, additional colors are created extending the dynamic tone range. Rotogravure printing is used for advertising inserts and 'Sunday supplements' in newspapers, as well as for fine quality magazines and art prints. All these traditional printing processes can deliver great results but require large print runs to be cost effective. To get down the selling price of rotogravure fine-art posters thousands of copies must be printed, for example. The digital revolution brought with it new ways to capture, work with and reproduce pictures.' Ink jet', 'Xerox' and 'laser' became household terms as desktop publishing came of age. Of those three, ink jet offers the best quality for pictures because the dots are sprayed on with soft-edges, like rotogravure. Companies like Epson, Canon, HP and others have refined the ink jet printing process into a hybrid for artists and image-makers now called 'giclée'. Giclée dots are softer than any other kind. Take a spray can and make a little puff of color on a piece of paper and you'll see how there are no real edges to it at all. Now if you spray puffs of other colors to overlap each other, you'll get millions of other tones instead of thousands or hundreds. That is why giclée has the highest dynamic tone range of any printing process. Most giclée inks are glycerin based making them water soluble. Glycerin is thick and to get it to spray it is 'exploded' into tiny droplets by something like a spark plug. Like a drop of water hitting a hot pan, each ink pigments droplet bursts into thousands of little droplets. Depending on the specific giclée technology, there are up to 2880 such 'micro dots' for every single 'normal' (stamped on) dot. To extend the tone range father, various giclée technologies use additional ink colors. For example, our's uses eight colors instead of the usual four. There are three shades of black (K) as well as two shades of cyan (C) and magenta (M). Vashon Island Imaging uses the Epson 9880 printer to produce outstanding giclée reproductions that are up to 44-inches wide, with lengths up to 40 feet. (widths of up to 66 inches are available through our studio in Vancouver BC). We are a service for artists and those requiring the very best in large-format giclée printing and finishing. Quality is our number one objective. Our mission is to offer customers an individualized service delivering superior quality fine-arts reproductions. Media Selections
If you have a preferred paper,
we will stock it for you. Finishing Services Canvas finishing services
include varnishing (using archival Golden® MSP varnish), as well
as stretching, and framing. Scanning of Photographs and Artwork Nikon and Epson technologies are used for precision and high-quality scans from traditional photos, slides, and other flat artwork. Dimensional and Installation Artwork Photography Another service for artists is photography of dimensional artwork, like sculptures, mobiles and installation pieces. Retouching and Restoration We can help you enhance your
images and restore your memories. File Delivery Options & Standards All files to be printed should be "print ready." For those files that need pre-print editing (formatting, retouching, cropping, adjustment, etc.) please see our "Retouching and Restoration" section for pricing. Our Working Space is Adobe RGB (1998) Accepted file formats are .psd, ,tif, and .pdf. Files in .jpg format will be converted to .psd format for printing. Correction for some .jpg 'artifacting' and color attributes is possible. Please refer to our "Retouching and Enhancement" section. Files in the .psd and .tif formats should be flattened and contain no saved paths or alpha channels. We recommend that all images be 240dpi at output dimensions for optimum print results. If you have a preferred color profile, please embed it when saving. Untagged files will default to our 'Adobe RGB (1998)' working space, which can cause changes in color. Giclée Printing Price List Every first-time customer gets a 10% discount on their first job. Textured Fine Art
Rolls (15 mil) up to 44"
wide $ 0.11 per square inch Ultra Smooth Fine
Art
Rolls (35 mil) up to 44"
wide $ 0.12 per square inch Somerset Velvet
Rolls (19 mil) up to 44"
wide $ 0.11 per square inch Premium Canvas Satin
Rolls up to 44" wide $ 0.13 per square inch Premium Canvas Matte
Rolls up to 44" wide $ 0.13 per square inch Premium Luster
Up to 44" wide $ 0.10 per square inch Premium Semimatte
Up to 44" wide $ 0.10 per square inch Enhanced Matte
Up to 44" wide $ 0.09 per square inch Matte
Up to 44" wide $ 0.07 per square inch Print Finishing Services Price List
* Plus cost of mounting board substrate: Mounting Substrates
Scanning of Prints and Artwork Large size artwork can be scanned two ways.
For example, if a 48 X 36 inch original is to be reproduced same size (ie, 48 X 36 inches), six sectional scans, each 18 X 12, would provide the needed coverage for high-quality giclée printing.
Another example would be if the same 48 X 36-inch original is being scanned to appear as a two-page spread in a magazine or brochure, measuring 11 X 17 inches. In this case, a "single shot" scan would be appropriate.
Scanning of Slides or Negatives
Drum scanning can be arranged upon request. Call or email for details. Archive to CDR Each CDR $ 5.00 Retouching and Restoration Our services are diverse and include:
Job quotes are given based on hourly rates of $50.00. Commercial Applications Giclée printing is widely used for signs, banners, and even things like fabrics for scenery or hangings. For these applications, specialized media and finishes are required. Please call to discuss your requirements. Custom Traditional Black-and-White Darkroom Services We proudly offer traditional black-and-white film processing and printing.
These services are intended for serious photographers and collectors. Given the individuality of each job, please call or email for details. Digital Imaging Seminars Learn how to make 'prepress' adjustments for the best giclées at our Digital Imaging Seminars.
New Book: "Giclée Prepress - The Art of Giclée" A new book by Douglas Mesney
called Giclée Prepress - The Art of Giclée is now available. It is a companion
to "If You Don't Look Good, We Don't Look Good" Our #1 goal at Vashon Island
Imaging is quality work and the kind of customer service you get when
one artist works with another. To download a printable 'pdf' of this brochure and price list click here.
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