My Inks - 8 Month Fade Test

[Fuzzy_Bear]

I must partially apologize. I no longer have a scanner. I have a camera, but no light box as of yet. I am working on that. I have attached a PDF as that is what the Xerox Workcentre scanner that the church that I clean has available.

 

1. Noodlers
   1. Widowmaker
   2. Texas Bluebonnet
   3. Texas Live Oak
   4. Texas Pecan
   5. The Alamos Twilight
   6. Comanche Rouge
   7. Tanned Armadillo
   8. Lexington Grey
2. Private Reserve
   1. Chocolat
   2. DC Supershow Blue
3. Aurora Black
4. Pelican Brilliant Black 4001
5. Higgins Black Magic Drawing Ink (Not FP Safe)

I taped a sheet with all of these inks in my window that faces mostly west. I taped them up on Jan. 13, 2013 and pulled them down on Aug 3, 2013. They stayed up for almost 8 months.

 

The Comanche Rouge almost disappeared. The Alamo's Twilight lost the red. The Chocolat seems to have turned a lighter brown. The DC Supershow Blue lost most of it's blue, turning grey. There is still a touch of blue, though it is not visible in the scan. The Pelikan Black MAY have lost a touch of it's black, but the is a subjective call.

 

The rest of the inks seem to have kept their color. I'm happy about that.

 

Right now my favorites are the two blacks, Texas Bluebonnet and Chocolat. Always have a pen loaded with these. If HOD is just as black, I will switch to it for it's bulletproof capabilities.

 

 

 

DOC014.PDF

Edited August 5, 2013 by CobraKai

[amberleadavis]

Thank you for the test. A couple of questions. Do you have a picture of "before" so we can compare to "after"? Based on the PDF, I believe you posted the entire sheet -- is that right?

 

I'm sure I'm missing something about reading the results - if you wouldn't mind clarifying - I'd appreciate it.

[Fuzzy_Bear]

My fault. Where you see the number 678, that was written right before the scan.

 

I failed to do that for the Lexington Grey.

Right next to Pelikan Black 4001, "Fresh Black" is the right before scan writing.

(not FP Ink) - next to that is written right before the scan.

 

Next time I will do a better job.

[amberleadavis]

O - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply criticism, I can tell you that my own experiments have changed over time. I was just trying to clarify what I was looking at, and I'm glad to know you will do it again! I'm so bummed about CR (though given how fast the pinks have faded in my own experiments, I am not surprised).

 

Thank you and I look forward to seeing your posts in the future.

 

Amber

[Fuzzy_Bear]

It's not a problem. Having our work looked over is how we learn. And I appreciate the information. It helps and I will be able to make these kind of test better in the future.

 

As for the Rouge, yeah. It has a pink to it as well as the red.

[CaptainGroovy]

Very Interesting thank you for doing that.

[SeeksAdvice]

Not bad survival on the colors.

 

I did something similar with a West facing window at my apartment. Had the stuff up for about 2 weeks. Pretty good fading action on some of the colors. I can't do 8 months, as we don't get enough months of intense sunlight here to do that

 

About 6 weeks out from the start of winter driving season ... maybe.

[HalloweenHJB]

A fade test from a not very sunny part of the world, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. The pages were folded in half, and set in a window with an eastern (morning sun) exposure. From October to March, here are the results.

 

The biggest surprise is how poorly Bay State Blue stands up, and how very well Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses and Apache Sunset did.

 

Biggest losers are the pinks (Rose Tendresse and Turmaline), Diamine/Chesterfield Amethyst, and Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-gaki. Strong finishers are the de Atramentis and the "Deep Dark" inks.

 

 

[pyramidValley]

Wow. I had to search other posts to confirm the BSB faded like that, completely shocked!

[Fuzzy_Bear]

As of today, I taped up a new test. Let's see how it looks in a few months. Maybe do an ongoing, once a week scan so we can see the progress

[HalloweenHJB]

Great idea. Good to know which are the inks we need to protect from UV light...

[zuph]

I'm really surprised at how well most of these samples survived some relatively intense abuse. Makes me think that there are a lot of people that put way too much emphasis on the "permanence" of different inks. You've inspired me to hang up my own ink test!

[Fuzzy_Bear]

More inspiration. After scanning the final one, I'll rinse each in water then alcohol, then bleach.

 

That should be interesting.

 

Guess it will be some time.

[amberleadavis]

Great idea. Good to know which are the inks we need to protect from UV light...

 

Well, it's more than protecting the inks. The UV tests just show you how the inks will withstand time. You are just superexciting the process.

[amberleadavis]

More inspiration. After scanning the final one, I'll rinse each in water then alcohol, then bleach.

 

That should be interesting.

 

Guess it will be some time.

 

 

I'm excited to see it. Thank you.

[Dip n Scratch]

Thank you Halloween HJB:

For what you'd pay for a bottle of Bay State Blue, which is around twenty UK Pounds you would expect better performance. It is a fantastic blue as written, but the electric blue disappears rapidly in as little as a month. The other 'ultra-blue' inks probably won't fare well. FuzzyBear's test on PR DC Supershow Blue seems to support this conclusion.

If you got cheap Jinhao blue from an Internet seller it does not look so striking.

However, it will still be perfectly legible after the test period which wiped out the Bay State Blue.