Sunlight And Ink ---

[Charles Skinner]

I may have ask this question before, if so, I do not remember your answers! Here goes again ------

 

I have put ink samples on good paper ---- small pieces --- on the window seal in the garage ---- and let them stay of more than a short time. The sun light comes in through common window glass. My question is: ---- Is this a good way to test how long the ink will "hold up?" My concern is about the large number of journals I have, going back many years. How will the ink in these journals hold up?

 

I just brought into the house, paper with four inks that I commonly use. The paper had been in the window ----- sunlight through glass ----- for three and a half months. Three of the colors held up very well, while one showed fading.

 

So, was this a good test of how long ink might last in my journals? I know that the paper likely would have some effect on the ink in my closed journals in a dark closet.

 

Perhaps nobody can answer the question with any degree of certainty. Your thoughts, please.

 

C. S.

[aurore]

Most inks fade in the sunlight a lot, some are literally gone. This does not mean they will fade in a notebook though. My Edelstein Tanzanite became grey in just one day in the window, then turned light brown and later gone (all just in 2 weeks), a total garbage in this matter, meanwhile it is holding reasonably well in notebooks.

 

Some inks are very resistant (and needn't to be pigment): a couple of GvFC, Sailor Doyou, Aurora Black, Iro Tsuki Yo and many others. Some are not resistant at all (Edelsteim collection is a shameful founding member of the hall of fame).

 

Personally I consider a decent UV resistance essential when I am paying premium while Diamine are free to fade as much as they like

 

To answer your question: yes and no. If your ink is fade resistant in the sunlight it will be most probably holding strong in notebooks too. But even inks weak in the sunlight are sometimes ok in notebooks.

Edited September 18, 2018 by aurore

[EBGBs]

I would say your test conditions should match what you are trying to assess. So except if you keep your journals open at your window, your test protocol may not be the most relevant.

If you want to know whether your inks will hold in your journals stored in a closet, shelf or store room; how your inks (or papers) resist a certain degree of humidity for example may be much more important than how they fare under direct sunlight.

 

I guess trying to find your oldest handwritten letters or notes, or classroom notebooks, or your oldest journal in your storage - which would have been kept in fairly similar conditions are those in which you keep your journal - may give you a better idea of how your ink(s) will hold in your journal than sticking them at the window?

[welch]

Don't worry about sunlight. As long as you close a notebook, the ink will probably outlast the paper. I've summarized court documents from a case in 1866. The ink was readable, but the legal paper was breaking at the folds. Heavy paper but folded in thirds and turning to dust along the creases.

 

Incidentally, the handwriting looked just like the Palmer / Zaner-Blauser characters were were taught in the '50s and '60s, except for two pages of flourishy copperplate or Spencerian. How will people read handwriting if they are only taught to print?

[PAKMAN]

I have had little problem with any ink in closed journals. Sunlight and UV from fluorescent lights will make many inks fade away completely. There have been a number of folks here on FPN that have done fade tests of many inks. See if you can search for one of those. Your inks may have already been tested by a fellow FPNer.

[minddance]

I had a page on my balcony written with Herbin Lierre Sauvage for a few months and nothing faded.

[Studio97]

From my experience the ink has held up for years in acid free journals. Not so well in one of my early journals written on recycled cheap notebook paper...and the paper is deteriorating too.

[alexander_k]

If you want to see writing fade in a closed journal, just use Quink Washable Blue (my favourite cleaning liquid). BSB is also supposed to fade badly but I've yet to see it. As welch points out, it's mostly the paper that deteriorates first. I've seen that in old museums, where many of the handwritten notes become illegible not because the writing has faded but because the paper has become too dark.

[wallylynn]

BSB fades terribly in sunlight, but my journal entries look just fine. I just tossed a few boxes of old school notes (ballpoint) and they're just fine too.

 

Thing is, there's no true long-term data on all these new inks. Only accelerated testing, like the direct sunlight you tried.

 

I guess another thing you can try is an ink eraser (eradicator). Older papers or cheap poor quality paper may contain the same chemical residues. (like newsprint turning yellow and brittle) So if the writing resists the eraser, you're an extra step ahead.

[amper]

The ink I use is Prussian Blue, which has the curious property of reducing when exposed to ultraviolet light, which causes it to fade to a pale yellow and eventually go colorless, I believe, but if you put it in the dark, it will eventually oxidise back to its usual blue color.

 

This peculiar property also means that Prussian Blue is virtually impervious to chlorine and oxygen bleaches, but can be faded by exposure to acid.

 

Prussian Blue (ferric ferrocyanide) has the smallest pigment particle size after carbon black, and flows quite easily through fountain pens. However, a paper published by Sheaffer many years ago suggests to may cause corrosion of gold nibs, so I use only stainless steel nibs.

Edited October 11, 2018 by amper

[tamiya]

The ink I use is Prussian Blue, which has the curious property of reducing when exposed to ultraviolet light, which causes it to fade to a pale yellow and eventually go colorless, I believe, but if you put it in the dark, it will eventually oxidise back to its usual blue color.

 

This peculiar property also means that Prussian Blue is virtually impervious to chlorine and oxygen bleaches, but can be faded by exposure to acid.

 

Prussian Blue (ferric ferrocyanide) has the smallest pigment particle size after carbon black, and flows quite easily through fountain pens.

Is that what's in Royal Blue Konigsblau school ink that allows Ink Iradicator to work?

[amberleadavis]

Somewhere in one of the fade tests I have the scientific explanation. The sun is simply the catalyst. You are testing how fast the ink degrades. The sunlight is simply speeding up what would happen even in a closed notebook.

[amper]

Is that what's in Royal Blue Konigsblau school ink that allows Ink Iradicator to work?

 

No, that type of ink is dye-based. Prussian Blue is a pigment.

[wallylynn]

Had to look up Prussian blue. Wikipedia says it's pretty lightfast, used in paints like Van Gogh's paintings. Now that I have a safety pen, I'm curious to try it out.