Small Uv Test

[mrcharlie]

Earlier this year (March) I did a 35 day south facing window UV test with 9 inks I had in use. The weather where I was living was mostly sunny for this period of time; the page received direct sunlight for a handful of hours per day on most of those days. I didn't post until now because I didn't have scanner access; sorry about that.

 

The inks used were:

1. Levenger Gemstone Green
   
2. Platinum Violet
   
3. Sheaffer Skrip Jet Black
   
4. Sheaffer Skrip Blue
   
5. Levenger Amethyst
   
6. Levenger Cobalt Blue
   
7. Noodler's Black (aka "Bulletproof Black")
   
8. Parker (Quink) Black
   
9. Levenger Raven Black
   

 

A reference page, kept in a folder out of the light.

http://imageshack.us/a/img443/9149/201203uvfadetestreferen.jpg

 

The page put in the window. You can see that the paper itself has changed color a bit.

http://imageshack.us/a/img41/6545/201203uvfadetest.jpg

 

Platinum Violet and Levenger Amethyst were both basically erased in only one month. Skrip Blue and Parker Black are both still visible, but clearly fading; they will hold up to being out in a sunny office for a few days here and there but not good choices for something that will be sitting in the sun long term. Skrip Jet Black looks a little faded, but not much. A longer/more severe test would be useful. The others all look basically unchanged.

 

The only ink that didn't fade which surprised me was Gemstone Green; I also thought Skrip Jet Black might fade more than it did, more akin to the Parker Black ink.

[stefanv]

Hmmm. I would have expected more fading from all the inks. Do you by any chance have UV blocking glass in your house?

[Paddler]

I have tested many of the same inks in the same way. The results were the same. The fastest fading inks I have found are Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Red and Brilliant Green. They only took a couple of weeks to disappear.

[amberleadavis]

Wow, I am with you. I never expected Gemstone Green to hold up that well. However, I did think Amethyst would do better. I may rethink my use of the Cobalt.

[mrcharlie]

Hmmm. I would have expected more fading from all the inks. Do you by any chance have UV blocking glass in your house?

It was a rental; the window they were in was relatively new but I don't think it had any special coatings or properties. I don't even think it was a double-pane insulated window, but I don't live there anymore so I can't check.

 

Clearly it didn't block all the UV since the purples were erased, basically. Some of those inks are meant to be UV resistant or UV fade-proof, so no surprise there. I could have, and probably should have, left the paper up in the window for several more months just to see what would further happen to the Skrip inks with more time, and the Parker Black which is really affected already (much more so than Skrip Jet Black). I'm not sure the windows I have available to me now get a lot of direct sunlight; possibly I could let it cook some more.

[bphollin]

By your image it looks like Noodler's Black didn't change a bit. Is that the case? I've never quite found a reason to test UV, but I'm glad you did!

[mrcharlie]

Noodler's Black claims to be UV proof, and it was in this test; no change.

 

Levenger Raven Black and Cobalt Blue also didn't change, and as far as my genetically deficient eyes can tell neither did Gemstone Green.

 

After finding and looking at Amberlea's massive Experiment 2, I see that Skrip Blue does indeed continue to degrade with enough time, although slower than many other non-fade-resistant inks. I should like to test both current and vintage Jet Black for a longer period of time than I did here.

 

If I do another test, I'm using that "cutting the same paper in half" thing that Amberlea (and probably others) have done.

Edited September 22, 2012 by mrcharlie

[tenney]

Thank you for doing these tests. The results are most interesting, and I'm glad that I didn't convince myself to do the tests.