![]() Welcome to Wallspice! We are Ceri and Louise and we've worked together for over twenty years running Designworld, our graphic design agency based in Cardiff. Aside from the day-to-day business we've both produced some unique designs over the years to hang in our homes and give as gifts, but it took an extended lunch in our favourite local, the Mochyn Du, to finally put the pieces together and come up with the plan that became Wallspice. That plan was to sell unique and personalised designs that we think would spice up any wall (see what we did there). We've developed a collection which covers most of our passions - music, sport and family. We love all of them and we hope that you will too. Thanks for visiting and if you'd like to find out more about any of the art on the site, please drop us a line. Many of our customers have had great things to say about our products. You can read some comments on our Testimonials page. Ceri & Louise Wallspice Our Canvases Wallspice canvases are the very best quality handmade products. They have a 1.5” (3.8cm) deep frame and use heavy 350gsm 100% cotton artist’s high quality satin canvas and will arrive stretched ready to hang. The canvas does not use optical brighteners in its colouring as these can cause archival difficulties and discolourings over time, but it does allow for fantastic high detail and rich contrast thanks to the the satin finish. To ensure that your canvas prints last a lifetime, every canvas is coated with a Satin-Matte laminate finish. This is the best form of coating as it protects the canvas from scuffs, cracking and moisture as well as providing a perfect professional finish every time. A large vacuum hot press is used to adhere the laminate to the canvas which means the laminate is evenly placed onto the canvas prints and that the texture and feel of the canvas isn't lost in the process. The coating is optically clear so that it has no effect to the colours printed. The laminate also adds a further UV protective layer to the canvas prints, meaning that the canvas will last even longer and not fade over time. The stretcher bars are handmade from kiln-dried fir. Each bar is 1.5” (3.8cm) deep, meaning that these frames are robust and built to last. The thicker frame makes the final canvas look sharp and modern when hung on a wall. All of our frames include wedges so that canvases can be re-tensioned over their lifetime. Once the canvas has been printed it is hand stretched around the frame, using professional artist canvas stretching pilers. It is then attached to the frame using durable no rust staples and then covered with high quality backing tape to protect your walls. Once the canvas is fully stretched each one is individually checked before being dispatched. All of our canvas prints will arrive stretched ready to hang. Our Prints Wallspice supply only high quality giclée prints, printed on to 225gsm acid-free German etching paper. Prints are supplied to you unframed wrapped in acid-free tissue and rolled in a sturdy tube or stylishly framed and carefully wrapped. Giclée printing is essentially digital inkjet printing but using high quality pigment inks and archival grade paper. The word "giclée" was originally coined for the new type of prints being produced on large format high resolution industrial prepress proofing ink-jet printers which became adapted for fine art printing. To make the word descriptive of ink-jet technologies but without the negative connotations of "ink-jet" or "computer generated", the word was based on the French word "le gicleur" meaning "nozzle", or more specifically "gicler" meaning "to squirt, spurt, or spray". In the past few years, “giclée,” as a fine art term, has come to be associated with prints using fade-resistant, archival inks and archival substrates produced on large format printers. The latest pigment inks and substrates have vastly extended the longevity of giclee prints, allowing them to become art objects in their own right, even making them collectable for museums and galleries. An advantage that giclee printing offers to artists and publishers over more traditional methods is that work can be economically printed on demand and in limited quantities. The digital files can be reproduced as and when required – allowing designers, artists and photographers to print one offs, or limited editions of hundreds. Our Frames Our picture frames are high quality solid wood frames hand made in the UK. The frames range between approx 20mm-25mm wide depending on the size of the print. They are glazed with high quality float glass (regular size frames) or 2mm PlexiGlas XT gallery standard anti-reflective acrylic (large size frame) and are supplied with fixings. Printers and Inks Our prints and canvases are printed on Epson large format printers using specially formulated archival inks. These printers use multiple cartridges for variations of each colour based on the CcMmYK color model (e.g. light magenta and light cyan inks in addition to regular magenta and cyan); this increases the apparent resolution and colour gamut and allows smoother gradient transitions. The inks are rated lightfast in normal viewing conditions for over 70 years and on the canvases this is combined with the laminate, resulting in a product which not only looks great but will last a lifetime! |