archivality is not a single measure
Life span of a print is influenced by many variables, including: humidity, temperature, light exposure, and environmental pollutants (including those outgassing from wood, paper, adhesive, etc.). Different materials respond to these factors differently, and more so to different combinations of them. Therefore, unless you are overly and deceptively simplistic, it makes little sense to argue that the process x is more archival than the process y, unless you specifically define what "archival" means in the specific context. There are some no brainers you hear about all the time. For example, untoned silver image v. sulfur toned silver image. The latter is more resistant to any and all combination of the factors that influence the image longevity and in such a context, without going to be deceptively simplistic, there is no need to define what is meant by "more archival." -- Ryuji Suzuki "Make something religious and people don't have to deal with it, they can say it's irrelevant." (Bob Dylan, Biograph booklet, 1985) |