How do we print and deliver to you the pictures you buy from us and what printing methods do we use?
All our pictures are printed on specially coated aluminum sheets using a dye sublimation process that "bakes" colors into the aluminum. This gives vibrant, true colors and a surface that is durable, easily cleanable, fade resistant, strong but light, while being easy to wall mount with fastenings provided in your delivery box.
Over the years Alice and Dickon have experimented with a number of printing methods which range from traditional printing on high quality photographic paper, to printing directly onto canvas, to printing directly onto glass, to printing onto aluminum sheets using a process called dye sublimation, to printing onto metallic paper and then “sandwiching” the print between two pieces of acrylic glass. Each of these methods of printing, from an aesthetic point of view, have strengths and weaknesses. Each method has different costs associated with its production. In the end the “right” look for your home is a matter of your personal preference.
After much thought, and in an effort to make buying from us as straightforward and easy as possible, Alice and Dickon decided that we would offer our customers our photographs printed on specially coated aluminum sheets via dye sublimination, un-framed, in a range of sizes from 8 by 12 inches, to 16 by 24 inches, to 24 by 36 inches, to 30 by 45 inches, and finally to 40 by 60 inches. Although dye sublimation aluminum prints are considerably more expense than traditional photographic paper prints, aluminum prints have the advantage of being highly durable, easily cleanable, and are particularly fade resistant as the ink dyes are “baked” into the aluminum sheet during the dye sublimation bonding process. The final “metal” picture is strong and lightweight and comes with hanging mounts fully attached so that you can easily hang your picture on your wall right out of its delivery box. Aluminum prints have a clean and modern look and do not need additional framing. However, should you decide that you wish to custom frame your print, these pictures are easily and less expensively framed as they do not need additional glass protection as their metal surface is highly durable. All of our aluminum images are printed by one of three factories that we have selected for you, where we know the owners and where we have had good experiences with their customer relations professionals for a long time. Once you place an order with us, we upload the correctly sized image that you have selected directly to one of our factories. We then preview the image before sending the print through the factories dye sublimation process. The factory’s packing team then carefully hand box your print and send your shipment directly to you. Prints usually arrive in less than two weeks from you placing your order on our website. If you are, for any reason, unhappy with your finished product, please call us, explain what you are unhappy with, and we will gladly issue you a full refund.
If you want to customize your purchase from us, please call us, or email us, and we will try to help you think through your options. If requested, for additional fees, we can help you have your chosen picture printed on various materials, in unusual sizes, and, if you like, framed and or matted, in a range of matt colors and in various frame sizes and materials. Also, if you wish to buy a photograph printed on high quality photo paper and shipped to you in a protective roll box, so that you can have your local “experts” frame your print, we can print your picture in virtually any size on our enormous, state of the art, Canon Image Pro Graf 4100 printers.
Alice and Dickon