Choosing a Ketubah Design
You will want to choose a design that reflects your personal taste as a couple, as the ketubah is often your first piece of fine art and should be proudly displayed in your home for years!
There are many different ketubah artists with designs ranging from traditional to modern to pop art! Many artists will take commissions for original pieces of art to be used as a ketubah, but most ketubot are prints. If you are looking at a ketubah print, it is wise to ask a few of the following questions:
Is it part of a limited edition? If the design you are interested in is a limited edition print, meaning that there will only be a limited number of prints in that edition, it will typically be more valuable. If it is limited, the print number will be noted in a corner, such as “56/300”, meaning that this print is the 56th print in an edition of 300.
How large is the edition? Edition sizes range from very small (10 to 100) to very large (thousands). As a rule, the smaller the edition size, the more valuable the print.
How is the edition counted? Some ketubah artists count a particular design/text combination as one “edition.” Typically, with a lithograph and serigraph, all prints in an edition are created at once, so the artist chooses the texts to put in the design and then prints so many with text #1, so many with text #2, etc. Before you get excited about a small edition size with a limited edition lithograph or serigraph, be sure to ask the artist if the edition size is based on your design with all texts or just your chosen text. (For example, if an artist prints 100 prints of a given design with 10 different texts, ask whether the edition size is based on 100, the size of your desired design/text combo, or 1,000, the total of all design/text combos. That will give you a true sense of how many of your designs will be in circulation.) Typically, since giclée’s are “printed to order,” giclée editions are counted without regard to text. (For example, if a design is limited to an edition of 350 prints, then upon the edition selling out, only 350 couples will own that design, regardless of which text each couple chose.)
Is it signed or otherwise hand-embellished? Some artists hand-sign each of their prints or otherwise hand embellish their prints in some manner. This typically makes the print more valuable.
One of the biggest differences among ketubah prints, other than the art, is the type of print. Although the original ketubah design could have been created using oil paints, acrylic paints, pastels, watercolors, or even digitally, the prints of the ketubah design will typically be a lithograph, a serigraph, or a giclée.
Lithographs and serigraphs: Lithographs and serigraphs (screenprints) have been in use to create traditional fine art prints for many years. Their processes have evolved over time but they are still used heavily by artists today. For example, lithography may refer to the more modern, mechanical method of fine art reproduction (“offset lithography”) or to a more traditional lithograph produced by an artist who creates a drawing on a stone with a wax stick (“stone lithography”). The traditional method of printing is an art form in itself, and creates multiple, original works of art, whereas modern lithography is a method of reproducing works of art originally produced using other media.
Giclées: The newest fine art print process, a “giclée,” has only been in used since the early 1990’s but has made a huge impact on the fine art world. The word “giclée” (pronounced “zhee-clay”) originates from a French term meaning “to spray,” alluding to the technology used for giclée printing, during which special inks are “sprayed” onto art paper or canvas. The term was originally coined by a few printing companies in the early 1990s that used the IRIS printer to make fine art reproductions. They wanted a term to distinguish their fine art printing from other companies that used the IRIS for other types of commercial printing. Currently, the term giclée also includes fine art reproductions made on other high-quality digital printers that are similar both in function and in print quality.
Differences between giclées and lithographs: Giclée printing differs from modern lithography and serigraphy in the mechanical aspects of the printing process itself, but the end results are basically the same -- ink on paper. Both processes allow for artists to reproduce their works in print form, no matter what original medium was used. Both printing processes run the same gamut, as far as archival quality is concerned.
The greatest difference between the two printing processes can be the economics of each. Due to the time-consuming and costly setup of a lithographic or serigraphic press, many prints must be made at one time to offset the front-end costs. Although giclée prints cost much more to print per piece, there is virtually no set up. Printing 100 prints or 1,000 prints is no more economical than printing one print.
Benefits of Giclée Ketubot: An artist who creates a ketubah printed as a giclée may offer more flexibility in both the design and the text, since the ketubah will literally be printed “to order” for you. For example, a lithographic ketubah artist will likely have printed a certain number of prints with text #1, a certain number with text #2, etc. Once the artist sells out of text #1, you can only purchase that design with text #2. Whereas a giclée ketubah artist can typically pair any text (including your own custom text) with your chosen design, since they will print your ketubah for you after you order it. Also, a giclée ketubah artist has the flexibility to more easily (and thus more affordably) customize your text and your design, before it is printed, without having to create a fully custom ketubah.
Giclée Ketubot Personalized: When a giclée ketubah artist personalizes your text (adds your names, and dates, etc.), he or she typically does so before the ketubah is printed so the text is neat and seamless. Personalized texts on a typical lithograph or serigraph ketubah are usually completed by hand. (This is done by a calligrapher or the artist who designed the ketubah.) This adds a personal touch which some people prefer (some artists even play this up by using a different colored ink to complete the blanks). Others feel the text has a “filled-in” look. Why is this so? Before the lithographs are made, the text -- with all the blanks in it -- is usually handwritten into the design. The design (and blank) text is then printed over and over as a lithograph. When a couple chooses such a ketubah design, a calligrapher or their officiant then completes the blanks by hand. Words are stretched or compressed to fit the available space, which doesn't always result in the best appearance. (For instance, you may be getting married in the Hebrew month of Av, or maybe the secular month of May, and your name is Sara Katz, but the spaces the calligrapher has allotted have to be big enough to squeeze in “Cheshvan,” “December” and “Azriela Baurenbaum.”)
