Digital BW, The Print

Seth,

>One thing troubles me about the soak-in spray.  I guess the
>analogy is paint peeling off the side of a house.
>It is caused from moisture or oily stuff
>getting behind the paint. With water it just blisters off
>from the vapors; with other substrates, it just refuses to stick.

>Do you see this as a problem?  Is there any way to test for it?

I'll do what I can to test the product before actually using it on a print
that matters. It's too early for me to know.

The solvents are denatured ethyl alcohol, tetrafluoroethan, and
1,1-dichloro-1-fluoroethane.  Not being a chemist, I have no idea what all
the characteristics and risks of these solvents are.  It seems to evaporate
very quickly.  I think the idea is to leave no residue except the buffer --
basic magnesium carbonate.

The product is made to be used on papers with ink and colorants, but I'm
sure there is some risk that the solvent could affect something.

>...archival and de-acidified storage usually also mean
>encapsulation in Mylar and dark storage in a controlled atmosphere.

I'm just trying to deal with the major defect that has been identified with
EAM/EEM.  I think very highly of the paper, but acidity of the paper base
has been identified as the factor that will yellow it relatively quickly
(30 - 60 years), no matter how carefully it is stored.

In my actual dealings with old photos and digitally restoring those images,
the physical damage to the image from careless handling, insects, water, and
other environmental factors is far more of a problem than the fading of the
images or acidity of the old paper.  (We're not talking about low quality
newsprint paper that does seriously yellow and  deteriorate in rather short
order.)  So, I would agree that even if totally acid-free, protection from
environmental damage is critical.  At some point I'll have time to get back
to the coating issue, which I think holds some promise of helping to protect
the fragile inkjet images from physical damage.

I'm sure people who are primarily concerned with long-term, archival storage
will also insist on cotton.  I have some reservations about cotton
substrates due to the flaking of the coatings.  I think the soft cotton
substrate makes the flaking more of a problem.  (A thin coat of clay on a
pillow comes to mind.)  Epson's Ultra Smooth Fine Art is their latest effort
to make a cotton paper that does not flake.  So far, I see none with it, and
may use it for the museum reproductions.  But for my display images where
image quality and my out-of-pocket cost for large size paper are significant
factors, the post-printing deacidification spray could be a good compromise.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com
_________________________________

=-----Original Message-----
=From: Paul Roark [mailto:paul.roark@...]

=Subject: [Digital BW] EEM/EAM Deacidification -- Wei To spray #12
=
=show yellow with my Abbey test pen.
=
=I just tried the Wei To spray -- #12.  It appears to soak into
=the paper. One slow sweep of the spray across the back is
=enough so that the interior fibers are testing non-acidic
=throughout the paper.