Frequently Asked Questions

Orders of £30 or more can be delivered to addresses within postcode areas BN1, BN2, BN3, BN41 and BN42 free of charge.

Orders of £50 or more can be delivered to addresses within a 15 mile radius of the gallery, free of charge (see this map for qualifying geographic area)

UK orders that don’t qualify for free delivery will be sent by Royal Mail (smaller items up to 2kg) or Parcelforce (larger and heavier items)

We have three options for UK P&P:

1) STANDARD
This is the Royal Mail 48hr / Parcelforce Express 48hr tracked service. Prices depend on the size and weight of your order. Their delivery aim is 48hrs from being received (i.e. 2 working days). Your order is guaranteed for delivery, but not for their timescale aims (which may be affected by COVID, and additional seasonal increases in volumes). We always provide the tracking information so that you can keep an eye on your order’s progress.

2) 1st CLASS
This is the Royal Mail 24hr / Parcelforce Express 24hr tracked service. Prices depend on the size and weight of your order. Their delivery aim is 24hrs from being received (i.e. 1 working day). Your order is guaranteed for delivery, but not for their timescale aims (which may be affected by COVID, and additional seasonal increases in volumes). We always provide the tracking information so that you can keep an eye on your order’s progress.

3) NEXT DAY
This is the Royal Mail Special Delivery / Parcelforce Express AM tracked service. Prices depend on the size and weight of your order. Their delivery aim is next working day from being received (before 1pm for Parcelforce). Your order is “guaranteed” for delivery and timing, in as far as we can refund your P&P if they fail to do so within these times. (Of course, there will always be occasions when items are lost or delayed, but this is the most reliable “gold standard” of P&P options!) We always provide the tracking information so that you can keep an eye on your order’s progress.

OUR DESPATCH TIMES
1) For UK P&P, we despatch all online orders within 48hrs (and within 24hrs in December, prior to Christmas, but normally on the same day)
2) For free local deliveries, we normally make deliveries twice a week. We will contact you to arrange a suitable time, but it will normally be during the evenings (please check your junk mail / spam folder if you haven’t heard from us within 24hrs of making an order). In the run-up to Christmas, we’ll make sure we get your orders to you, including delivering last-minute orders (made prior to midday on 23rd) on Christmas Eve if necessary!

Great idea! We’re more than happy to send items to the lucky intended recipient directly, and we can include your own personal message in the package. Just add this in the notes section when checking out, or email us after if you have a specific request.

A separate shipping address can be added during the checkout process.

You can redeem your CONCLAVE GIFT VOUCHERS in store, or in our online shop.

In order to use them for an online purchase, please contact us first by email to let us know what you’re after (the easiest way is normally to screenshot your basket page) and we will set up the discount on a private online product that you can then confirm the purchase of through the usual checkout process. (Sorry – we are currently unable to automate the voucher redemption online, but we will get back to you super-quickly to get you on your art-buying way!)

We can arrange for deliveries to addresses outside of the UK, but please do contact us in advance for a bespoke shipping fee quote.

Once we know what items you’re interested in (and whether they are to be framed, or sent unframed) we will be able to calculate a shipping quote for you. You will still be able to complete and pay for your transaction through our online shop, but we will email you a link to a bespoke shipping item to add to your cart.

As a general rule, we can no longer buy insurance to cover damage (only losses) in transit, so we need to package up any orders including frames in a bespoke packing crate to ensure it gets to you in one piece. This is essential if we are sending you anything containing glass! There will be an additional fee for this (which we will let you know about in your P&P quote) and you should also allow a week from order to despatch. In some situations, we are able to offer frames with plexi-glass (perspex) fronts, rather than the standard glass, which can make the P&P cheaper and simpler – we will let you know if this is option.

Please be aware that any import duties and taxes due on international orders are the responsibility of the buyer unless explicitly pre-agreed with us (i.e. where we are able to use a pre-paid duty service – this would be detailed in your P&P order purchased from us). In any circumstance, we are not responsible for items held (or refused entry) at customs in the destination country. In all instances, we will aim to facilitate your import of the goods to the destination country, but we do not act as the exporter in terms of taking responsibility for the customs requirements or restrictions at the destination country. We will do our utmost to ensure the process is as smooth as possible, and will complete all customs paperwork thoroughly and accurately. All international sales are final, and orders refused entry and/or destroyed at the destination country’s Customs service will not be refunded (unless this is due to an error in our customs declaration paperwork) so please ensure you are aware of any local restrictions that may be in place at your destination country’s borders.

From the 1st July 2021, VAT will be payable (at the destination country’s standard % rate) on items imported into the EU from the UK.

Most of our artworks are available framed or unframed, however some works are built into integrated frames. Where this is the case, the item will note this in the description. We also have a number of original works on stretched canvases (or other sold materials) which are provided “ready to hang” without a frame.

Want to make it bigger?
Smaller works can be mounted and framed up in a larger frame with a mount. For example, we can frame nearly all A4 works in an A3 frame, and nearly all A3 works in a 40cm x 50cm frame or an A2 frame. We try to show a mock-up visualisation of these options on the product listing, but if we haven’t, and you’d like to see one before purchasing, please don’t hesitate to contact us (gallery@conclave-brighton.co.uk) and we will happily email you over some images.

For example, here is an A3 print shown in a few different framing options:

Frequently Asked Questions

You can find full information on our frames (which can also be bought on their own) in our online frame shop page here.

All our artworks are listed with their dimensions included in their shop listings. To help you visualise what this looks like in practice, this image may help put things in perspective!

Frequently Asked Questions

Many of our artworks can be framed “up” a size by using a mount (for example, A4 into A3, A3 into 40×50/A2, A2 into 50x70cm/A1) and we are happy to suggest options and provide mock-up views to help you get exactly what you’re looking for!

Many of our artists are willing to take on commissions and/or customisations. Please contact us if there’s something in particular you’re after, and we’ll be happy to see if we can help!

Each one of our artworks has a detailed description within its online shop listing. Under the “Medium” heading, we have done our best to describe the materials (and/or methods) used within the artwork/print to better aid your understanding of what the work is like in real life. Here are a few quick explanations of what some of the most common ones mean.

GICLEE PRINT
(Pronounced “zhee-clay”) This is a digital print created using a specialist, professional digital printer that uses fade-resistant pigment inks (rather than normal domestic dye-based inks that fade). This ultimate-quality printing method allows for very accurate reproduction of both colours and detail within a print, and provides an archival quality print that can last for hundreds of years. The paper and finish can be matt, satin or gloss, or textured.

SCREENPRINT / SCREEN PRINT
This is a traditional printing method where an image is created on paper (or another flat material) by forcing ink through a partially masked, mesh screen (previously made of silk, hence “silkscreen printing”, which is another name for the same technique). A screen print can be made up of any number of layers, and can use may different types of inks or printing media (including opaques, transparents, metallics and fluorescents). You may occasionally also see these prints referred to as “serigraphs” elsewhere (although we won’t use that term!) as this was more commonly used in the 1960s and 1970s as a way of identifying artists’ screenprints from commercially, mass-produced screenprints.

RISOGRAPH
This is a bit like a mechanically created screen-print: named after the Riso Kagaku Corporation who, in 1986, invented the duplication technology and created the machines originally intended for office use. A Riso machine first creates a master mask/stencil, which is then attached to a drum, which then transfers ink through the non-masked areas onto a sheet of paper. Just like screen-printing, subsequent multiple ink layers can be used to build up colour combinations.

DIGITAL PRINT
This is a print created digitally (i.e. sent to a printing machine as a digital file) and subsequently printed using either high-quality inkjet or modern offset (lithographic) print techniques. In inkjet printing, ink is applied directly to the paper, whereas offset printing uses a transfer roller process where various ink colours are layered onto a drum which are then applied to the paper, one colour at a time – this is more commonly used for higher volume printing (rather than one-offs) so allows artists to produce affordable editions of their works that are light-safe and long-lasting, but with a slightly more production-print feeling to the finish.

MIXED MEDIA
This term can cover pretty much any material, used and applied in any way! Mixed media works will generally (although not always) be original, one-off works. They are sometimes collages, made up of multiple material types, or could be artworks that use a mixture of more traditional painting and drawing materials, or may be a combination of both of these, potentially including found items, recycled and repurposed materials. It’s worth remembering that these works may be more sensitive to light, as some of the materials used may not have originally been intended to last forever, so they may have an ephemeral and changing nature to their appearance (which is all part of their charm!) Keeping works behind glass, and out of direct sunlight will help preserve their appearance.

COLLAGE
Often used as part of the “Mixed Media” description, the term “collage” generally implies the use of a material for its pre-printed surface image, or the image that cutting and shaping the material creates within a work (rather than imagery created via mark-making with pencils, inks, paints, etc) It can be analogue (e.g. old-fashioned scissors and glue) or digitally created or manipulated. A subset of collage, “Photo Montage” is the practice of using photographs within a collage.

POSCA PEN
Whilst being a brand name, “Posca” refers here to the use of an acrylic paint pen, which many artists use to allow quick, free and fluid drawing techniques on paper or other surfaces. As it uses paint (and pigment, rather than dye) this type of pen is light-safe and completely different to using a standard marker pen (which will fade quickly, and lays down translucent colour).

SPRAY PAINT & STENCILLING
A favourite of street artists everywhere, spray paints can be either solvent based, or water-based, and have good light-fastness, permanence and stability. They are are usually (but certainly not exclusively) applied through a stencil (cut by the artist to their own design), which allows for multiples of a work to be created. Each use of a stencil will produce slight variations due to the manual process. Multiple layers are built up on paper, card, wood, canvas (or any surface!) and it can be seen as a process that uses a similar approach to screen printing, but with a more handmade, deliberately imperfect finish where you can clearly see (and feel!) the hand of the artist within the final work.

LINOPRINT (& RELIEF PRINTING)
This is a traditional form printing where a printing block is created (and carved out) by hand. In the past, linoleum (the flooring material) was used, but this has largely been replaced with a modern vinyl material now. Ink is applied to the block by a roller, which is then forced against the paper, normally in a printing press. Different colours are applied in different blocks (although sometimes a blend can be used to create a unique transition of two or more inks on a single block). The block can be used many times, but each print will have some slight variations due to the manual process. You may see some relief prints referred to as using a “reductive” or “reduction” process. This means that block is slowly cut away in between each layer, and so is slowly destroyed during the process (meaning no further prints can be made from that block). Woodblock printing is pretty much the same, but uses woodblocks rather than lino/vinyl blocks as a base for carving, and so will often produce inked areas that show more texture.

MONOPRINT
This term can cover a variety of non-digital methods whereby the artist is creating the artwork in such a way as to make a one-off, unique final image, whilst utilising some approaches and techniques that are normally used to create multiples. For example, this might be hand-painting over/through a silkscreen, or might be a drawing directly onto the back of paper that has been laid against an inked block. These manual techniques may be combined with elements of multiple image reproduction (e.g. there may be a “standard” screen-print layer combined with a unique hand-painted layer/s, or a one-off ink-block drawing on top of another print layer.)

HAND-FINISHED
Hand-finishing is not so much a medium in itself (and will normally be cited in combination with the medium that the hand-finishing deploys) as an approach to adding a hand-made, variable element to an editioned print artwork. For example, a digital or giclée print could be hand-finished with gold leaf, or a screenprint may be hand-finished with paint or collage elements. Sometimes artists choose to add colour and tints to monochrome prints by hand-finishing with watercolours, inks, pencil crayons, or other drawing and painting media. Hand-finishing is a way to ensure that no two works in an edition are exactly identical, and – as such – an artwork ordered from a hand-finished edition may not be exactly the same as the version photographed and shown in any online shop listings.

ETCHING
A traditional printing method which involves creating an image on the surface of a solid plate (normally a metal) either by mechanical or chemical means (e.g. by carefully applied scratching/carving/grinding, or by targetted corrosion). The ink will be pushed into the grooves of the plate, with the remaining surface cleaned of ink. A sheet of paper is then placed over the plate, pressure is applied, and the ink that was left in the grooves transfers to the paper.

…and a few extra notes on some particular media…
FLUORESCENT (DAY-GLO) AND METALLIC INKS AND PAINTS

Metallic finishes will change their brightness and colour depending on their viewing angle and reflections in relation to the position of the eye and the position of ambient lighting sources. They are highly sensitive to taking on the colours and shades of the ambient light surrounding them (e.g. in a room full of red fabrics, a silver metallic can appear very red and coppery). Our photographs of works with metallic inks and finishes will include an element of reflection of the environment we photographed them in – this will be different to environment in which you will see them outside of the gallery!

Fluorescence is a specific optical phenomenon which can be explained with a bit of science. Here’s a VERY basic explanation. (Stick with us here…or don’t, up to you!)

Fluorescent inks and paints contain pigments (chemical compounds) which allow for more of (or a change to) the source’s spectrum of light waves to be reflected back off (emitted from) a surface, and thus reach the eye. It does this by transferring some of the non-visible spectrum of light (UV) from the source, and converting (via it’s absorption and subsequent emission of light energy / aka reflection) this into a wavelength that is visible to the human eye. Normally this extra light energy would either be absorbed by the surface, or reflected straight back as light waves that remain invisible to the human eye.

Fluorescent inks are normally brighter than white. On digital screens, white is the brightest option of any colour rendering, therefore it is impossible to show how a fluorescent colour really looks against a white background on a digital screen where a white background is represented as white.

So it’s basically an optical “illusion” that can only be experienced in real life. (One of many reasons to visit the gallery in person – but if you can’t hopefully our online shop descriptions will help you understand what the colour experience of an artwork is like in real life!)

A limited-edition artwork is one where a set, pre-defined number of “copies” of an artwork are produced. Once this limit is reached, the edition is complete, and no more “copies” will be printed.

The edition size tells you how many works were (or are to be) produced, and the (unique) number will define where in the order of the edition that particular work was created. This is typically featured as a note on the front of on the artwork, such as “2/10” or “2 of 10” (this would indicate the second print from a maximum number of 10 prints).

Depending on the type of artwork, with limited editions, you are – in many cases – receiving a share of the original artwork. For example, a digital artist creates a work and prints a limited edition of 25 prints: the print edition is the only physical form of the artwork in existence, so each print is ultimately a 4% share of the original (without the need to get involved in all this NFT silliness!)

An open edition is where the artist does not set a limit on the number of copies of a work. This is often used in more commercial environments to allow for a “print on demand” model where the buyer receives an authorised, approved, “official” copy or version of the artwork. At Conclave, we don’t believe in the need for mass-produced artworks, and we want to keep it special for everyone – that’s why all our artworks are either originals, limited-editions, or handmade by the artists.

Please head over to our Terms & Conditions page for full information on using our online shop function.

MADE TO ORDER ITEMS:
If you are ordering an item which needs to be made to order by the artist, please complete your order ASAP! (or get in contact if you are concerned) for example – Cassette Lord works must be ordered by 7am on 21st December AT THE VERY LATEST for Brighton delivery before Christmas!

BRIGHTON AREA DELIVERIES (postcodes BN1 / BN2 / BN3 / BN41)
&
EXTENDED LOCAL AREA DELIVERIES (within 15 miles of Brighton – see this map for qualifying geographic area)

Online orders that qualify for free delivery (£30+/£50+) must be completed by 10am Saturday 23rd December for deliveries prior to Christmas. For orders under these amounts, please refer to the “Rest of the UK” section, as your order will be posted.

If you require your free local delivery particularly urgently, please do drop us an email and we’ll do our best to help.

REST OF THE UK

We are committed to despatching your orders in time for the last delivery timescales as advised by Royal Mail and/or Parcelforce. As you may be aware, many areas of the UK are experiencing delays due to staff shortages, and we cannot be held responsible for these delays, but we will do our very best to factor this in and we may make arrangements to use alternative courier services where we are comfortable with their reported service levels.

If you are concerned that an order may not turn up in time, we recommend using the “Next Day” option (aka “Special Delivery”) as this is the only service that provides an “On-Time Service Guarantee”.

The last order dates for our delivery services are as follows:

1) STANDARD & 1st CLASS
Your online order must be completed by 12pm (midday) TUESDAY 19th DECEMBER

2) NEXT DAY
Your online order must be completed by 12pm (midday) WEDNESDAY 20th DECEMBER

>>IF YOU WOULD PREFER YOUR PARCEL TO BE SENT BY DPD (rather than Royal Mail/Parcelforce) please add a comment/note during the checkout process, or email us to confirm your wishes.

Our dates are based on our commitment to prepare and despatch your order prior to the “Last Post” dates and times as advised by Royal Mail and/or Parcelforce, however, we cannot provide any further guarantees as to the timing of the actual delivery – please leave as much time as possible, and bear with us through these times of tricky logistics! (Thank you!)


We’ll always do our best to meet your requirements, so please do get in touch if you have any specific requests or other queries!

email: gallery@conclave-brighton.co.uk