Welcome to AzarÉl Greetings! Brian and I (Donna) have a small, family-owned business with a passion for creating beautiful, gallery-quality canvas prints from our own unique photography. While our mission is to deliver stunning art for your home, we believe the story behind the art is just as important. That’s why we want to take you behind the scenes for a closer look at our process. From our special piano-sized printer to the careful, handcrafted details, we’ll walk you through exactly what it takes to turn AzarÉl photography into a piece of art that’s built to last.
When you get a canvas print from us, you’re buying a piece of art that’s meant to last. That’s why we start with a premium polycotton canvas. It’s got a beautiful gloss sheen and is incredibly durable, setting the stage for a great print. This isn’t just any canvas; it’s an archival canvas, designed for serious art. It’s both acid-free and ArtSure approved by the Fine Art Trade Guild. This certification means the canvas meets rigorous standards for long-term longevity. Plus, a special microporous coating makes it scratch and water resistant, and it really allows the colors to pop. This commitment to a quality canvas is the foundation of every giclée print we produce, ensuring your artwork is beautiful and built to last.
Myrtle, our professional-grade printer, is fueled by a serious investment in quality. The high-end, archival pigmented inks are totally worth it! Unlike standard inks, our pigmented inks are designed to last for a very long time without fading, ensuring the colors remain vibrant and true for a lifetime. That’s exceptional color reproduction and image longevity. For every print, it’s an investment we are proud to make, guaranteeing your AzarÉl Greetings art will be a lasting piece.
Here’s Myrtle hard at work. It takes her about seven minutes to print two 12″x18″ giclée canvas prints. It’s edited down to a one-minute video.
A huge boost to our business came when my husband Brian (the maker of all our canvases) was able to acquire a professional-grade Canon IPF8400 printer from a retiring photographer. This magnificent machine became the heart of our production, allowing us to personally control every detail and ensure a level of quality that was simply not possible before.
Brian’s “pet machine” is affectionately named Myrtle. While we know that Moaning Myrtle is a ghost who haunts a girls’ bathroom at Hogwarts, we chose the name for its quirky, old-fashioned charm. Myrtle is the size of a small upright piano and has a commanding presence. Due to her substantial size, she has found a permanent home in our finished basement. This space is ideal for maintaining the cooler temperatures and controlled humidity needed for creating perfect gallery wraps.
Myrtle has over a gallon and a half of ink on board. Today, it would cost around $4,000 to fill the ink for the first time! She uses a high-end, 12-color system. Think of it as choosing a box of crayons: would you rather have a box of 8 or a box of 12? The 12-color system allows us to reproduce a wider range of colors with incredible fidelity, ensuring the final print accurately captures the stunning details of our original photographs. While the giant Crayola box of 64 crayons (complete with crayon sharpener) gives you 64 distinct colors, a 12-color printer uses its inks to mix and create millions of colors in a continuous spectrum. It’s more like an entire paint store in a single machine.
Join Brian in the workshop as he turns our printed canvas into a finished piece of art, from assembling the frame to the final stretch.
Since about 2020, every AzarÉl Greetings canvas print has a handmade frame crafted by Brian. The wood for our frames is sourced from a local mill in rural Lancaster County, which mills raw poplar into the profile we use. Poplar is a great choice for frames because it’s a stable hardwood that’s easy to work with and highly resistant to warping.
Brian purchases the 7-foot-long bars with a gallery print profile a gross (144) at a time. He cuts them into sections using a power miter saw. The heavy-duty gallery bars have a about a 1 1/2″ depth that creates a more pronounced 3D effect for the giclée. Their sturdiness provides excellent tension and stability, guaranteeing an AzarÉl canvas remains taut and secure.
The sections of the frame are joined using biscuits. These oval shaped pieces of wood allow Brian to accurately align joints. Here’s Brian in action cutting the biscuit slots using a router.
I’m so happy he wears ear protection. As the saying goes: Once upon a time there was a husband who listened to his wife and he lived happily ever after! All kidding aside, Brian is wonderful at allowing me to feel heard.
Watch Brian put the frame together. He is meticulous at making things just right!
Brian’s craftsmanship really shows in the details. He’s incredibly conscientious about rounding the corners, first with a belt sander and then with hand sanding. This isn’t just about a smooth finish; it’s a crucial step that prevents a sharp corner of wood frame from punching through the canvas. He gives each frame a thorough vacuuming to ensure no dust is left behind before the canvas goes on.
Brian makes the best use of every inch of canvas by printing two 12″x18″ canvases side-by-side to create the least amount of waste. After each canvas is precisely trimmed, he takes the flat print and its frame to the stretching table. The table is covered with a soft blanket, a small but important detail that ensures the canvas is treated kindly as he begins the next step.
With the canvas perfectly stretched and secured, the final touches are added to make it ready for your wall. We use a simple sawtooth hanger on the back because our canvases are light as a feather, making them incredibly easy to hang and level. We also add small bumpers to the bottom corners to ensure the canvas hangs perfectly flat against the wall. And while it’s my signature that goes on the certificate of authenticity, the truth is that after watching all of Brian’s fabulous work, I think it’s time we create a new version with a space for his
Brian makes stretching a canvas look deceptively easy, but it’s a skill he’s perfected over time. He starts by placing the frame on the table with the rounded edge down and the flat side facing up. Then, he begins the stapling process in the middle of a long side, pulling the canvas evenly taut with the strength of his fingers. He repeats this on the opposite side, meticulously continuing to staple from the center outwards on each side. This careful process ensures a consistent and perfect tension across the entire canvas.
While the best way to truly appreciate AzarÉl Greetings photography is to see it in person at the art and craft shows we attend near Lancaster County, we hope this behind-the-scenes look gives you the confidence to purchase online. Now that you’ve witnessed the craftsmanship that goes into every piece, you can delight in choosing the perfect giclée canvas print for your home. We offer a variety of sizes—from small (11″x14″ or 12″x18″), to medium (16″x24″), and large (20″x30″)—as well as gorgeous triptychs as both small triptychs (20″x33″) and large triptychs (30″x49″). In other words, we’ve got your walls covered! It’s so nice to discover new art that truly catches your eye and touches your heart!
I know that AzarÉl Greetings photography right on the edge of reality; in fact, almost unbelievable. Let me assure you it’s real! Find out the secret in the video below and also enjoy a few examples of our photography.
“Home Sweet Home”
Click above to visit store.
This is the giclée canvas print you saw Brian stretching. This image will always hold a special place in my heart! It was October of 2017 and bluebirds rarely visited our property. I was delighted to see this pair inspecting the roof and interior of a home. My father made this house as an “any bird” home, complete with perch. By this time, it was weathered and had acquired a delightfully rustic charm.”Clyde” and “Flossie” inspected it carefully. They flew away and returned several times. Unfortunately, they graced another property with their presence. Bluebirds know perches give predators an edge.
“Pumpkin Delights” “Baked with Love”
Click above to visit store. Click above to visit store.
Giclée Canvas print, three panel triptych, 30" x 49 1/2" (w/ 3/4" gaps)
Original Photography, printed and hand stretched by AzarÉl Greetings.
| 3000 Left in Stock | ||
Original Photography
Original Photography
| 997 Left in Stock | ||
Giclée Canvas print, 16” x 24”
Original Photography, printed and hand stretched by AzarÉl Greetings.
Click here to see how our canvas prints are made.
| 1000 Left in Stock | ||
Giclée Canvas print, 16” x 24”
Original Photography, printed and hand stretched by AzarÉl Greetings.
Click here to see how our canvas prints are made.
| 3000 Left in Stock | ||
Giclée Canvas print, 20” x 30”
Original Photography, printed and hand stretched by AzarÉl Greetings.
Click here to see how our canvas prints are made.
| 3000 Left in Stock | ||
Original Photography
Original Photography
Original Photography
| 999 Left in Stock | ||
Giclée Canvas print, three panel triptych, 30" x 49 1/2" (w/ 3/4" gaps)
Original Photography, printed and hand stretched by AzarÉl Greetings.
| 2999 Left in Stock | ||
Giclée Canvas print, three panel triptych, 20" x 33" (w/ 3/4" gaps)
Original Photography, printed and hand stretched by AzarÉl Greetings.
| 3000 Left in Stock | ||
Original Photography
