June 2013 Maryland Uv Fade Test

[mrcharlie]

On June 19, 2013, after sundown (so June 20 will be the first day it gets any sunlight) I cut this sheet in half and put one half in the west (I think) facing window of my bedroom in central Maryland. The inks tested are:

• Platinum Carbon Ink (Black, cartridge)
• Sailor Jentle Grenade
• Rohrer & Klingner Verdura
• Noodler's Black (aka Bulletproof Black)
• Montblanc Lavender Purple
• Sailor Jentle Black (cartridge)
• Diamine Majestic Purple
• Levenger Cobalt Blue
• Levenger Cocoa
• Levenger Raven Black

Here is the initial scan of the test sheet prior to being cut and the right side put in the window. Click on it for the full size scan.

I've previously tested Noodler's Black, Levenger Cobalt Blue and Levenger Raven Black for a shorter duration (35 days) than is planned for this test.

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/3609/0ndq.jpg

[mrcharlie]

I like to get a scan in the 10-14 day range, if I remember to, so I can see what inks are going to have problems when leaving a paper on a desk that gets decent sunlight for as little as a week or two.

Here is the sample scanned at the end of the day on July 01, 2013; twelve days in the sun.

Sailor Jentle Grenade and Diamine Majestic Purple are already faded to the point I would call destroyed.

Montblanc Lavender Purple, Levenger Cocoa, and R&K Verdura have all changed color some.

All four blacks on this sheet are initially good; that should please Amberlea. Levenger Cobalt Blue is also initially good.

Click on the image to get the 600dpi scan.

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/4085/og74.jpg

Edited July 2, 2013 by mrcharlie

[Mesu]

Interesting results..

 

Do pinks/ purples tend to fade more than other colors? Black seems more resistant to fading.

[mrcharlie]

Over all the inks I've tested, Blacks seem to more often be fade resistant or fade proof (but several have faded badly); reds, purples and blues seem to nearly always fade. Most of them fade and color change significantly in the first week or two. There have been a couple that fade very slowly, and three that have not faded at all so far after a handful of months in the window. If you look through the other topics I started in this forum section, you can see them.

 

Inks seem to do one of the following:

• Not fade significantly at all
• Change color fairly quickly, but then the remaining color stays readable for a long time
• Stay the same color, but fade very slowly
• Change color fairly quickly, and then fade at varying rates
• Fade very quickly, often to the point of total obliteration if given enough time.

 

The champion for how quickly and totally it faded has been Pelikan Royal Blue. Others have been close behind, and Diamine Majestic Purple on this sheet is one of them.

[mm1624124]

Glad to see one of my all-time favorites survive. Go Levenger Cobalt Blue!!

[Mesu]

Over all the inks I've tested, Blacks seem to more often be fade resistant or fade proof (but several have faded badly); reds, purples and blues seem to nearly always fade.

 

Pink, purples, reds and vibrant blues are my favs..

 

Yayy for Levenger Cobalt blue. That is the only shade that i like which did not fade.

[mrcharlie]

Yayy for Levenger Cobalt blue. That is the only shade that i like which did not fade.

 

Well, it's only been a dozen days. Cobalt Blue didn't fade in over 30 days last year, and I don't expect it to fade in the first month or so this time. I'll be interested in how it fares after two or three months.

Edited July 3, 2013 by mrcharlie

[amberleadavis]

Thank you for doing these test, Charles!

 

Based on my experience, I'd wager that three blacks of the four blacks you have up there will survive. The Jentle inks in my experiments always faded. I think the Levenger Cobalt will survive as readable (it is listed as fade resistant).

 

The very fastest faders are yellows, oranges and reds followed by purples. BSB and Baystate Cape Cod Cranberry are my control inks because I know how fast they fade.

[lapis]

+4 on Cobalt!"

[mrcharlie]

I'm not sure WTH is up with imageshack but they've busted a bunch of my image urls. Here is a new one that still works.

 

Here is the sample scanned at the end of the day on July 01, 2013; twelve days in the sun.

 

Click on the image to get the 600dpi scan.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img515/4085/og74.jpg

Edited July 20, 2013 by mrcharlie

[amberleadavis]

I think Cobalt got darker! Wow

 

Also that R&K green is impressive.

 

Thank you.

[mrcharlie]

This is the scan of this sheet after one month; it was scanned on July 23, 2013. Click on the image for the full size 600 dpi scan.

 

This one month was the longest days of the year (ie a more brutal first month than the sheets I hung up in November and December had).

 

All four blacks (Sailor Jentle, Platinum Carbon, Noodler's, and Levenger Raven) look good so far, and so does Levenger Cobalt Blue. I've never had 5 different inks on one sheet be this good after a month.

 

Jentle Grenade is nearly destroyed, Diamine Majestic Purple is destroyed, while Montblank Lavender Purple, R&K Verdura and Levenger Cocoa are fading significantly.


http://imageshack.us/a/img837/4885/mgcm.jpg

[amberleadavis]

Cobalt looks great. It's performing better than most blues I have ever tried, but I noticed that the mix you have on the other sheet didn't hold up as well. Interesting!

 

Thank you for doing these!

[mrcharlie]

Scanned again after sundown on August 31, 2013. Ten weeks and two days.

 

The inks that were fading are all erased or nearly so except Cocoa, which still has a little ways to go.

 

The inks that weren't fading are all still good; you can see that Cobalt has changed color a little, appearing darker than the side stored out of the sun as Amberlea noted above, but it hasn't started to fade away.

 

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img24/4051/wsfz.jpg

[amberleadavis]

WOW. I keep hoping that more purples will act like KTC (and they don't). Thank your for this great test.