Fish Art & Gifts

KOI - by Mary McShane
Limited Edition Iris Giclee prints

Artist Mary McShanes' love of Koi is evident in these limited edition Iris Giclee prints. She has successfully captured what draws each of us to the waters' edge to enjoy these fabulous creatures. These works are created using a state of the art Iris printer and the finest archival quality papers. The specially selected inks and papers effectively capture the originals feeling and depth of color. Each of the works is examined by the artist, signed, numbered and upon approval made available to discerning koi lovers. The editions are limited to two hundred and are sure to sell quickly. Don't miss your chance to show off you love of these beautiful fish by owning one of these valuable works of art.

Circles

Reflective Water

Feeding Frenzy

Blue Depths

Rippling Waters

Title	Size	Price
Blue Depths	40x30	$450
Rippling Waters	22x30	$350
Circles	22x30	$350
Feeding Frenzy	21x16	$150
Reflective Waters	21x16	$150

Information about Iris Giclee prints - What makes them Special.

IRIS prints get their name from the printer that produces them, an IRIS inkjet printer. This printer is quite different from the inkjet printers commonly found in offices and homes. It is, from a technological point of view, an extremely sophisticated piece of equipment. Though IRIS printers have been on the market for about ten years, it remains the unchallenged standard for fine art reproductions and high-end graphics presentations. It has the ability to print on virtually any kind of paper, including very heavy watercolor papers, canvas, cloth and translite. In fact, it can print on essentially anything that can be wrapped around its 34" wide and 47" circumference drum.

IRIS prints are often called 'Giclees', a French term meaning 'to spray'. However, not all 'Giclees' are made on an IRIS printer. Consequently, we prefer to use the term 'IRIS print' or 'IRIS Giclee print' to clearly signify that our prints are in fact made on an IRIS printer.

IRIS prints are more expensive than lithographs for two primary reasons. They are more attractive and they are considerably more costly to produce. Lithographic art prints are generally printed at a rate of 5000 prints per hour. The paper and ink used for lithographs is inexpensive. Full sized IRIS prints are printed at the rate of one per hour. IRIS prints are usually printed on expensive watercolor paper such as Arches or Somerset, or specially prepared canvas. The archival inks are expensive, producing about twenty full sized prints per $165 ink set. For all the added expense and time involved in creating an IRIS print, the only true justification for a higher price is a better print. The market has recognized the superior quality of IRIS prints and has conferred a higher value upon them. Internationally known artist David Hockney reports sale prices in excess of $35,000 for IRIS prints. The average price range for large, framed IRIS prints is between $800 and $2000. From a market perspective, the determining factors in fixing the value of an IRIS print are the desirability of the image, the reputation and name value of the artist, and the size of the edition.

The IRIS is a CMYK printer. That is to say, it creates all of its colors through various combinations of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. These four colors are pumped through small tubes into four individual nozzles. Inside each nozzle the ink enters a hollow crystal. These crystals constantly vibrate at one megahertz, or one million oscillations per second. This vibration brakes the flow of ink into one million individual droplets of ink per second. Each droplet is the approximate size of a red blood cell. Between the four nozzles, a total of four million droplets of ink are created per second.

The droplets of ink move through the nozzles at a speed of sixty miles per hour. At the end of each nozzle is an aperture measuring ten microns in width, or approximately one-tenth the width of a human hair. As the droplets pass through the tiny aperture streaking toward the print surface several important events must occur in a tiny fraction of a second. Under typical conditions, only about ten percent of the four million droplets of ink being created each second are wanted for the image being printed. The 3.6 million droplets, which are not wanted, must be identified and disposed of very quickly. A computer transfers image data to the IRIS while it is printing. This data informs the IRIS precisely which droplets are desired and which are not. As the droplets approach the print surface they pass through a charging chamber. The unwanted droplets are individually identified and given a positive electronic charge while the desired droplets are allowed to pass through the charging chamber unaffected. Just before the droplets strike the print surface they pass a deflection plate which is positively charged. Since like charges repel one another the positively charged droplets are deflected downward, away from the print surface, where a knife edge intercepts them and directs them toward a waste container.

The uncharged droplets pass the deflection plate unaffected and strike the print surface with pinpoint accuracy. However, between the nozzle aperture and the print surface the variable drop size technology of the IRIS comes into play. Rather than permit each of the 400,000 desired ink droplets which are being created each second to strike the print surface individually, the IRIS combines these droplets in precisely determined combinations of varying sizes. Any given pixel, or pinpoint, on the print surface may receive as few as no ink droplets at all, as many as 124, or any number in between. (It is interesting to note that the accuracy of the IRIS printer is such that it is possible to 'double strike' images, placing the very same number and color of ink droplets, in identical combinations in the precise pixel locations as the first strike.) The more droplets that are combined the larger the size of the ink drop that actually strikes the print surface. Thus, large drops are placed next to small drops, interspersed with medium sized drops, etc. The use of variable drop sizes yields a perceived resolution of 1800 to 1850 dpi. This resolution is five to six times greater than a quality lithograph and provides a print of continuance tone appearance. It is this technology that sets the output quality of the IRIS above that of any competing printer.

The petroleum-based composition of traditional printing inks is not compatible with the technology of the IRIS. To avoid clogging and assure the proper flow of ink IRIS printers use water-soluble vegetable dyes. Vegetable dye inks have, historically, been unstable and fugitive. Advancement in the state of vegetable dye inks was necessary to provide the output of IRIS printers with archival qualities. In 1997 significant breakthroughs occurred in this regard. IRIS Graphics Equipoise inks and Lyson Fine Arts inks from England were placed on the market. These inks have been tested by Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. of Grinnell, Iowa, a nationally recognized expert on the effects of light on digital and photographic materials. They were found to last 32 to 36 years on Arches cold press paper in 450 lux of light, twelve hours per day, before noticeable fading occurs. It has been estimated that in museum lighting conditions of 50 to 100 lux these ink sets will last 100 years or more.