What are Giclee prints

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 Giclee printing process uses fade resistance, archival inks and archival paper to make different size prints. Basically, Giclee prints are used by artists to make two-dimensional artwork for resale while preserving the original one. Artists often focus on their creative talents to make the original art and use companies that produce the Giclee prints. 

There's an advantage because a consumer is more likely to be able to afford a Giclee print rather than the much higher price of original art.

There are many types of reproductions where the term print is used. Today, artists and collectors generally use the term Print to mean "mechanical reproduction", in other words, a computer generated Giclee or poster. However, before the age of computers, the word print referred to a hand-crafted etching. Etchings were made from an original drawing, and that drawing was then etched by hand onto a metal plate by a master etcher or the artist. Then using a printing press (without electricity), along with ink, an etched plate and paper, prints were "pulled by hand". Sometimes these etchings were hand embellished by the artist after the printing.

Early Giclee prints were used to efficiently print posters that were never meant to last for more than a few years. The inks faded with time and with exposure to light and the paper was made of wood pulp. The resulting prints faded over time, and the paper yellowed and cracked.

At some point in the 1990s, the idea of using these same poster presses, but with archival inks that lasted the test of time and didn't fade for at least 75 years. Before that time, fine art print companies used the offset printing process that required four to six passes through the press to produce each print. Artists used to have hundreds of prints run and then had to store unsold ones someplace. Even the offset print inks faded over time. 

It has come a long way since then. Today, the inks last much longer, and printers are faster and larger. Another improvement is that paper choices are also archival, and artists often use 100% cotton rag paper which resembles hot pressed watercolor paper. Cotton paper never cracks or turns yellow.