More Maryland Fade Tests

[mrcharlie]

I'm adding more half pages to my window, and am planning on leaving them there as long as I'm staying here. Hopefully when I eventually get a new place to live I'll have a window that gets some sun as well.

 

First up is a test I started on October 24, 2012. The inks tested are:

• Sheaffer Skrip Blue (current production cartridge)
  
• Pilot Easytouch Medium Black ballpoint
  
• Zebra F-301 BP F<0.7> Black ballpoint
  
• Scribal Work Shop Kraken Black
  
• Zebra V-301 FP Black ink
  
• Waterman Florida Blue (cartridge)
  
• Noodler's Dragon's Napalm
  
• Noodler's Liberty's Elysium
  
• Scribal Work Shop Leviathan Green
  
• mistake (Liberty's Elysium again)
  
• Sheaffer Skrip Peacock Blue
  
• De Atramentis Elderberries
  

 

Here is the initial scan, which I think was done after the window side had been in the window for 2 days.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img696/3443/20121024initialscan600x.jpg

 

Here is the scan after 19 days, which is already enough to show some fading in some of the inks.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img208/6387/20121024to20121113600x7.jpg

 

 

 

Click these thumbs to get the full size 600 dpi scan, if you'd like to see it larger.

Initial Scan http://imageshack.us/a/img696/3443/20121024initialscan600x.th.jpg After 19 days scan http://imageshack.us/a/img208/6387/20121024to20121113600x7.th.jpg

[mrcharlie]

My niece saw me doing this and saw the fading from the September sheet, and asked if she could do one. Of course! She rounded up some of her pens and a couple highlighters, and asked to use one of the fountain pen inks I'd already done that had faded the quickest. Her tested pens are:

• March of dimes pen (blue ink ballpoint refill says "NeatScript S20 Swiss Made ISO 12757 H 1 9")
  
• P.W. Binnenhof Blues Pen (Akkerman ink)
  
• Sarasa Pen (regular zebra sarasa, I assume it is a light green color?)
  
• Pilot Varsity Pen (black)
  
• Parker Jotter Pen (Parker Med Blue Gel refill)
  
• Easytouch Pilot Pen (blue ink ballpoint)
  
• hype quill highlighter, yellow
  
• accent highlighter (this is pink, right?)
  

 

Initial scan before it was put in the window on October 25, 2012.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img840/3733/oliviatest20121024initi.jpg

 

Second scan done on November 13, 2012 (19 days, if I counted right).

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img441/1828/oliviatest20121113600x7.jpg

 

The yellow highlighter became dark and readable?!? Binnenhof Blues and the NeatScript ballpoint are fading fast. Parker Blue Gel and Pilot Easytouch Blue BP have become dull, but are still basically dark.

 

For full size 600 dpi scans, click the thumbs.

 

Initial scan http://imageshack.us/a/img840/3733/oliviatest20121024initi.th.jpg Second scan http://imageshack.us/a/img441/1828/oliviatest20121113600x7.th.jpg

[mrcharlie]

On November 9, 2012, I put another page up. The inks on this one are:

• Parker Medium Blue Gel ball pen refill
  
• Sheaffer Skrip Brown (current production)
  
• Vintage (blue and yellow bottle) Sheaffer Skrip #22 Blue Black
  
• Diamine Ochre
  
• Noodler's Cayenne
  
• Waterman Black
  
• Rohrer & Klingner Morinda
  
• De Atramentis Mahatma Ghandi
  
• Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng (fine nib)
  
• Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng (medium nib)
  
• Scribal Work Shop Siren Blue
  

 

Initial scan.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img819/435/20121109initialscan600x.jpg

 

Initial scan thumbnail with link to the fullsize 600 dpi scan http://imageshack.us/a/img819/435/20121109initialscan600x.th.jpg

[jacksterp]

mrcharlie - thanks for doing all this. I have often wondered about the sun-fastness (not just the uv but the brightness of the light as well) on fountain pen ink.

Edited November 16, 2012 by jacksterp

[amberleadavis]

Charles, can you check the colors? I'm pretty sure that second one is a green and not a brown. It doesn't look like Skrip green, however. Tell the niece that her experiment is excellent! The Sarasa pen is doing quite well.

[mrcharlie]

Charles, can you check the colors? I'm pretty sure that second one is a green and not a brown. It doesn't look like Skrip green, however.

The Sheaffer Skrip Brown from the 11/09 sheet? I'm pretty sure it is Skrip Brown; I made an equivalent test thingy from the pen I have inked with it now (not the same pen) and it looks the same to me. To be sure, I'll ask someone else (without the red/green problem) to compare it later today. The only green I had inked during the time I made that sheet was Leviathan, and to me the "Skrip Brown" lines don't look like my UV test pattern of Leviathan. I did try Leviathan in about 3 different pens though, so maybe I messed up with my record keeping.

 

I don't have Skrip Green. I have vintage Skrip Emerald Green, but I don't think I used it in October, and I do think I can see the difference between Emerald Green and Brown. I have Platinum Green inked now, but didn't when I made the entries on the top of that page and it looks way different in any case.

Edited November 19, 2012 by mrcharlie

[Alexandra]

I think it's remarkable how well most of those inks are doing. I had Pelikan Blue nearly fade right off the page just sitting in my journal...my CLOSED journal. I love the look and feel of the ink but it's disappearing act makes it unusable for me except for grocery lists. Perhaps I should give Siren Blue a try. I'd like to see how these inks perform under the summer sun.

[mrcharlie]

Perhaps I should give Siren Blue a try. I'd like to see how these inks perform under the summer sun.

It will be interesting to see how the Scribal inks fare (that "initial scan" is prior to any time in the window). It still looks good after nine days in the window (Pelikan Royal Blue was mostly gone in that amount of time), but the last week and a half have not had a lot of sunny cloudless hours compared to a month or two ago.

[mrcharlie]

On November 9, 2012, I put another page up. The inks on this one are:

• Sheaffer Skrip Brown (current production)
  

 

I've verified with a normally sighted person comparing to writing samples of Leviathan and Skrip Brown, and that is actually Leviathan. I'll note it on the page itself next time I scan it.

 

Oops.

Edited November 19, 2012 by mrcharlie

[LucasT]

The Scribal Work Shop Siren should fair very similarly to the SWS Leviathan...Given that the blue component in the Leviathan is the same as the Siren Blue .

[mrcharlie]

Here are updated scans made on December the 8th of the already running tests. Despite the time of year further change happened in the past three to four weeks.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img824/4381/20120922to1207600x776.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img689/5894/20121024to20121207600x7.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img687/2694/oliviatest20121207600x7.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img822/4332/20121109to20121207600x7.jpg

[mrcharlie]

Here are the latest scans made after sundown on February 5, 2013. Click on the images to get to the full size 600 dpi images.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img822/233/20120922to20130205600x7.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img850/9273/20121024to20130205600x7.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img507/1545/oliviatest20130205600x7.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img841/5639/20121109to20130205600x7.jpg

[mrcharlie]

The Scribal Work Shop Siren should fair very similarly to the SWS Leviathan...Given that the blue component in the Leviathan is the same as the Siren Blue .

 

SWS Siren Blue is looking very good after two three months in the admittedly winter levels of sun. I think this is the best Blue ink I've tested. The Leviathan Green and Kraken Black are still not fading much if any as well. I don't suppose you have ever tested Nessie for fading? I need to get the other two samples of your ink that I have on the window!

 

The Noodler's Cayenne and Kung Te Cheng are both not fading at all so far.

 

Other inks that are changing a bit but resisting fade effects well are Organics Studio Manganate V, Pilot/Namiki Black, and De Atramentis Elderberries.

 

Inks that have changed color radically but are still quite readable include the Parker Gel Blue ballpoint, Sheaffer Skrip Jet Black (Textron era, not the current formulation), and Waterman Black.

 

Noodler's Liberty's Elysium is labelled as "partially Bulletproof" or something like that, but it is fading/changing at the same rate as average inks. Whatever part of "Bulletproof" it is, UV resistant is not it.

 

The worst faders on these pages are P.W. Akkerman Binnenhof Blues, Noodler's Dragon's Napalm, Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, and P.W. Akkerman Bezuidenwoudgroen. Binnenhof Blues is very waterproof, but the fastest and most complete UV fader I've tested.

 

As far as the non-FP inks, that Sarasa pen is impressive (I'm not sure what the name of that color is)! Also the Pilot G2 Black. And the Zebra F-301 Ballpoint Black is maybe slightly changed but not much, and that is better than most conventional ballpoints do. The Pilot Easytouch BP on the same page is more changed than the Zebra is, several other ballpoints on the various pages are much worse than either of those.

Edited February 6, 2013 by mrcharlie

[amberleadavis]

Wow. Thank you!

[mrcharlie]

I took my niece's test down since pretty much everything had faded a lot, and the paper itself wasn't doing so well either. And I posted the September test scan in its own item where the previous scans should have been. So here are the October 24 and November XX tested, as scanned on 2013-03-13.

 

Scribal Work Shop inks all still doing well, as is Noodler's Cayenne (which I think is not claimed to be UV proof). And of course KTC.

 

Click on image to get full size scan.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img20/6293/20121024to20130313600w.jpg

 

faded Ochre looks neat.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img849/8978/20121109to20130313600w.jpg

Edited March 20, 2013 by mrcharlie

[amberleadavis]

KTC is an amazing ink. I am impressed with the Cayenne.

[jacksterp]

As a result of your test, Scribal Workshops is really capturing my attention.

 

Thanks again.

[mrcharlie]

I scanned the October and November tests again on April 21. I forgot to post them; here they are now. The images are links to full sized scans.

First the October test as it was on April 21, 2013:

http://imageshack.us/a/img826/7782/ivqc.jpg

Then the November test as it was on April 21, 2013:

http://imageshack.us/a/img521/9553/1xaj.jpg

[mrcharlie]

I also scanned these today, June 15, 2013. This is the final scan of the October test, but the November test went back up. The images are links to the full size 600 dpi scans.

 

Here is the October 24, 2012 through June 15, 2013 test. The only ink on this page that is really excellent in fade resistance is the Scribal Work Shop Leviathan Green. Their Kraken Black is quite faded but still readable; Noodler's Liberty's Elysium is quite faded but still readable, and all the rest are mostly destroyed.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img266/6901/bfmo.jpg

 

Here is the November 9, 2012 through June 15, 2013 test. Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng still looks new, as does Scribal Work Shop Siren Blue. These inks have taken an impressive amount of sun at this point. Most everything else on the page is destroyed including Waterman Black and vintage Skrip Blue Black. Noodler's Cayenne is faded but still quite visible and readable; this is a little more impressive on the full size scan if you view it scaled down to 25% or fit to the width of your monitor (these images are about 8% of full size).

 

This one went back up in the window; I want to see KTC and SWS Siren Blue after a few more months if I can.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img221/3209/o24k.jpg

[amberleadavis]

KTC is some amazing ink.

 

Scribal Siren is holding up better than expected.