Print Definitions
What is a Silkscreen Print?
Screen printing, also known as silkscreening or serigraphy, is a printmaking technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfers ink as an image onto a substrate, e.g. paper. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil forcing ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas. A screen print or serigraph is an image created using this technique. Each individual colour printed onto the paper requires its own individual stencil or screen, and can lead to a time consuming production when producing fine art screen prints. In the case of Ahmed Moustafa’s, some of the screen prints were produced using up to 28 individual colours.
What is an Iris Print?
An Iris printer is a large format colour inkjet printer which uses a continuous inkjet technology to produce continuous-tone output on various media, including paper and canvas. The prints are noted for their accurate colour reproduction. Fine art Prints produced by an Iris printer are commonly called “Iris prints” or “giclée prints”, in a process that has come to mean high quality ink-jet print and is often used in galleries and print shops to denote such prints using fade-resistant “archival” ink. Many artists and fine art printers still prefer to call prints produced on an Iris printer an “Iris print”, as is the case with the prints produced by Ahmed Moustafa. Our Iris prints are on 350gsm archival paper, or 410gsm canvas.
What is a Limited Edition print?
A limited edition print means a limited number will have been produced. The edition size tells you how many prints were produced. Generally, a smaller edition size indicates it is rarer, and often more expensive.
What is an Open Edition print?
With open editions, there is no limit on the number of reproductions produced.
What is an Artist Proof?
An Artist Proof is a working proof prepared during the production of a print run, which may bear some minor differences to the finished edition. This could be a slight colour variation as the artist finalises his choice of colour inks for instance.