You have made up your mind: you are going to buy an original print. Whether you are a seasoned collector or just starting out, we know that often buying art can be a confusing process. How can you be sure the work you are investing in is exactly what you expect it to be? Selecting artwork produced with quality materials can make a really big difference in the enjoyment and conservation of your print and it is key consideration to bear in mind before you purchase it.
At Rise Art we take the outmost care in the production of the artwork we commission. We work directly with the artist and a dedicated team of master printers and consultants that find the best materials and processes that suit the creative needs of our artists and that meet our top quality standards.
All the materials used by our printers are of archival quality, which means that it is at the standards set by museums and conservators around the world. We select our papers and inks not only for their surface quality, but also by the aspects that go into their production and how they complement each other during the printing process.
When browsing Rise Art, you’ll see some terms that highlight the way our prints are made, ranging from the type of printing method to the paper used. To help you understand the nitty-gritty of printmaking, here are some of the common terms we use across the site:
Archival: This refers to materials that are guaranteed to stand the test of time. There are many standards for archival materials, but we follow the guidelines set by conservators and museums. The ultimate goal is to produce a print where the inks and paper are in perfect chemical balance, to assure that the art piece will look just as brilliant now as it will in the future.
Archival Pigment Print: The name describes all fine art prints produced with the aid of ink-based digital printers. The medium produces extremely high quality prints and its technology allows levels of control that have never before been available to artists. This merging of new and traditional technologies allows beautiful tonal renditions, and is widely used by artists and galleries alike.
C-Type Print: Also known as Colour Coupler Print and Chromogenic Colour Print, a C-Type print uses paper that contains light sensitive silver halides. Once exposed to a light source, these halides record the different spectrums of light, but require the application of chemicals in order to develop and fix the photographic image. This process is the most popular method of reproducing colour photographs, and now produces prints that have archival ratings of over 100 years according to some manufactures.
Embossing: An embossed print is a print that has been stamped in order to assure its provenance. The stamp is usually placed on the lower part of the print, and it contains information that identifies the printer and the edition number.
Limited Edition Print: It is the practice of limiting the number of copies produced of a specific print. This is done in order account for all the copies that are produced and to assure collectors that there is a finite inventory of specific artworks, hence making them more desirable and exclusive. At Rise Art we take our limited editions seriously, generally limiting our prints to average runs of less than 50, so you can be sure that you are getting something unique and exclusive. All of our prints are hand numbered and come with a signed certificate of authenticity by the artist to guarantee your print is unique to you.
Paper: There are lots of types of papers being used by artists of varying quality. At Rise Art we only use heavy, archival papers to produce our limited edition prints, thus assuring the quality and longevity of the artwork. We usually use papers that have a heavier consistency, from 270 gsm onwards (gsm stands for ‘grams per square meter’), in order to avoid waves and ripples that may result from the large amounts of ink and other wet media applied during the printing process. Depending on the artwork and medium, our prints may be made with Glossy or Matte paper. The paper type used is always displayed next to the artwork.
Screen print: Also known as ‘stencil printing’ and ‘silkscreen printing’, screen prints are made by using one or more ink-blocking stencils. Ink is applied as a flood, and the stencils allow it to settle on specific parts of the paper. We work with several studios and printers, in order to make sure that the artists that choose this process are paired with printers that can translate their ideas onto the paper.