Digital BW, The Print

>  From: "Steven Karafyllakis <stevek@...>" <stevek@...>
> Subject: Re: Permanence - Jerry
Regarding your post. In real world experience virtually any medium will fade
when placed in direct sunlight. I design window displays among other things
(such as posters) which sit in direct sunlight all day. Working with the
best outdoor-rated inks from the best commercial printers, they all fade in
a relatively short time. Even color plastics with color through 100% of the
material fade in direct sunlight. Sure, some things last for months and in
rare case with black inks and a UV coating or laminate, maybe a year or two,
but that is the exception. I cringe when I see one of my displays, printed
maybe fifteen years ago, sitting in a window faded and flat, all the blacks
now an uneven gray and the colors mostly now a pale magenta, looking nothing
like it did when new.

But when it comes to the latest pigmented inks for inkjet printers I don't
believe this really makes any significant difference. In fact, the debates
about fading are purely academic. Anyone who is savvy enough to buy a
pigmented print will know not to put it in direct sunlight. I supply a COA
with instructions to frame the prints behind glass (UV glass if they're
hyper-concerned) using only museum-quality archival materials. Even dye
based Epson inks, in my humble experience, last for years and years when
treated this way.

Sure, there's always some idiot who will put a print in direct sunlight, but
in these very rare circumstances, I simply provide a replacement print which
I offer at my discretion.