Digital BW, The Print

(Bill Glickman on the Epson 9000 list cross-posted this piece from Chris
Jordan. I don't know where the original post was.  I thought it was
fascinating and deserved posting here.)

"Without attempting to comment on the artistic values of his work . . . here
goes. Having been, and still am, a commercial lithographer, (an a large
format photographer) I can answer your original question. I worked at one of
the L. A., CA based printing companies that printed several of Kincade's
prints. Yes, these are produced by the standard four color process printing
method and use standard, oil based printing inks. Take a look at any poster
in any window at any retail store that faces the sun. The print will start
to fade almost immediately. Most notably is process magenta, when yellow,
then cyan, then black - in that order. Process magenta is called a fugitive
color, even by the ink manufacturers. So . . . how long will a print last in
direct sun? About a week. It may vanish off of the paper in six months.
Inside your home under indirect lighting? . . . several years. Dark storage?
. . . the acid in the paper will start to self destruct in a few
decades." -- Chris Jordan

So, as long as we all sell our prints on QVC, we don't have to worry about
longevity. Cool!

;-)

Actually, I worked as framer for a while, and I framed a fair amount of
Kinkade's work for customers. The funny thing is, people spend so much on
these "limited edition" posters, that they actually want to pay the extra
money for archival framing with acid free mats, etc. I never had the heart
to tell them...

-Jason

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Roark [mailto:paul.roark@...]
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 11:21 AM
To: DigitalB&WPrint
Subject: [Digital BW] Thomas Kincade: Print longevity? [From 9000 list]


(Bill Glickman on the Epson 9000 list cross-posted this piece from Chris
Jordan. I don't know where the original post was.  I thought it was
fascinating and deserved posting here.)

"Without attempting to comment on the artistic values of his work . . . here
goes. Having been, and still am, a commercial lithographer, (an a large
format photographer) I can answer your original question. I worked at one of
the L. A., CA based printing companies that printed several of Kincade's
prints. Yes, these are produced by the standard four color process printing
method and use standard, oil based printing inks. Take a look at any poster
in any window at any retail store that faces the sun. The print will start
to fade almost immediately. Most notably is process magenta, when yellow,
then cyan, then black - in that order. Process magenta is called a fugitive
color, even by the ink manufacturers. So . . . how long will a print last in
direct sun? About a week. It may vanish off of the paper in six months.
Inside your home under indirect lighting? . . . several years. Dark storage?
. . . the acid in the paper will start to self destruct in a few
decades." -- Chris Jordan