Giclée is French and means to spray or squirt. I'm not making that up, sometimes the universe just shoots right in your mouth. All slag aside, here's the technical definition when it comes to art prints: If you are looking to make prints of your original artwork, you are looking for what is known as giclée print (pronounced “zhee-clays”). Giclées can be used to reproduce many different types of art. Giclée is a French term meaning “to spray”, referring to how an inkjet printer works and how giclee prints are usually produced. These large format inkjet printers use small spraying devices that can both match color and apply ink precisely, giving artists a high-quality print of their original art. But, not all inkjet printers produce giclée prints. It all boils down to these four elements: resolution, ink, paper, and printer type. What makes a giclée? To be able to make such a high-quality print, the camera or scanner used to capture or scan the art must be able to do so with a high level of resolution. To compare, most digital photos are recorded at a resolution of 72 DPI on the screen, or “dots per inch,” and the image file of an art print needs to be at least 300 DPI—because the more dots of color that can be printed in a small area, the more detailed your final image will appear. As far as ink and paper go, they must be high quality and considered “archival.” This is typically achieved using inks that are pigment-based instead of dye-based and any canvas, watercolor paper, or specialty printing paper designated as archival. Printers are typically larger models that are able to hold up to 12 ink cartridges which produce a wider range of colors for duplicating fine art.