Digital BW, The Print

Mark,

If you use a 100% Cotton rag paper that is acid free and pH neutral, and
archival pigment inks, you are very 
likely to make prints that won't fade or shift in your lifetime under
NORMAL low light viewing conditions.

If a customer ever comes back to you and says the print faded, it
wouldn't cost you but a very few dollars to reprint it for him. Build
this possible scenario into the cost of the print when you sell it. I
think that is about as good as we can do at the present time.

But I WOULD be wary of any paper that flaked off within a few hours of
printing. This indicates a faulty coating, and the print just might
flake off all by itself, even under glass. If you use such a paper, I'd
spray it with some acrylic coating. I've used the Krylon Acrylic spray
for oil and acrylic paintings for about 30 years and none have changed
color in the least. I don't use it to keep the print from fading, but to
protect it a little bit in case of handling or shuffling. I don't know
if it helps fading any.

Jerry





Mark Tucker wrote:
> 
> (NOTE: This should also probably be labeled a Rant, but I
> haven't written it yet, but it's early, and I'm hung over, and I just got
> back from a long road trip and I've been shooting in a
> MaxSecurity prison, so I'm feeling pretty raw and
> impatient.-MT)(But not "raw" like "that"...)
> -----
> 
> Road trips are good. Especially road trips away from computers
> and television. For me, I tend to get back into the big picture, and
> stop micro-managing so much.
> 
> What's hit me about this list, and about the Epson9000 list, and I
> guess the Piezo list too -- EVERYBODY just wants to know if their
> prints are gonna last (not fade). They also want to know if they're
> gonna shift color.
> 
> How many months (years) have we spent on these lists trying to
> figure this out? And in my eyes, we still don't have much of an
> answer. Wilhelm has flown the coop, or he's sitting in a
> mountain bunker somewhere with a window, a flourescent bulb,
> a tungsten bulb, and some ozone -- who knows? And what about
> these supposed tests at RIT? Does anybody have any info on
> those?
> 
> Personally, I'm ready to get on with it. I'm just at that point in my
> life where I'd simply like to start making and selling prints, and I'd
> like to shake a customer's hand and look them squarely in the
> eye as I receive their check, and send them on their way feeling
> solid and confident. (Right now, I honestly cannot do that). It
> seems like for every positive post about a certain paper/ink
> combination, there's another one a month later refuting those
> results.
> 
> I understand that quote that Clark Thomas published (4099), but
> at the same time, there's a point when you've got to stop testing
> and start printing. That time, for me, is now. I am prepared to buy
> almost any printer, if I can only be assured with some sound
> backup that the prints are chemically stable. Hell, I might even
> take the grandest leap of all, and get a PC machine to run my
> 7000, if it turns out that Piezo is the most stable.
> 
> In my (uninformed) eyes, the two finalists right now are:
> 
> * Piezo inks on (?) paper.
> * Color Pigment inks on (?)
> 
> I may be wrong. If I am, please correct me, and fill in the blanks
> for the papers. I have tried to start databases on this list, to try to
> get feedback from people on their success stories. That
> information never comes -- that leads me to believe that damn
> near everybody on this list is sitting on the sidelines, with that
> same puckered-up feeling that I have, wondering to themselves,
> "will my prints fade in five years?"
> 
> I am looking for hard facts. Solid information. I guess sticking a
> print in a window is OK, but I'd also like to hear from a chemist
> also about chemical reactivity between certain inks and certain
> paper coatings.
> 
> I like this the people on this list and all, but kinda like AA -- at
> some point, you just feel like you ought to be ready to "graduate"
> from it, and get on with your life. I'd say our goal, as a group,
> should be to some time get together for a beer, but NOT to have
> to talk about anything related to print permanence.
> 
> Restless,
> 
> Mark Tucker, http://marktucker.com
> 
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