Peter Marshall (petermarshall@cix.co.uk)
Fri, 29 Jan 1999 22:02 +0000 (GMT)
> At 02:53 AM 1999/01/29 -0500, Judy wrote:
> >
> Water colors bond with the media used (paper or whatever). Inkjet inks
> stay
> on the surface of the media (which must be coated to prevent ink
> absorption). I once talked with a chemist who had been working on this
> problem for H-P several years ago; evidently there is still no solution.
Sil
This isn't the case where uncoated water colour papers are used - here the
ink is definitely absorbed onto the fibre. It also has the effect of
reducing the 'dottiness', but less satisfactorily it reduces the
sharpness. However I think this is what happens with Iris prints on
water-colour paper. The display lifetimes estimated from tests of some of
these are around 4 times those for conventional Kodak colour prints, so I
think they can be considered reasonable.
For the special coated and glossy papers used to get 'photo quality' ink
jet prints what you say is absolutely true, though it is possible to use
coatings that are the same as those used in some media considered archival
rather than those in normal commercial use which *may* improve the
situation. I've done good inkjet prints using gelatine as a coating for
example, and microscopic examination shows little or no absorption of the
ink onto the fibre, giving sharpness more or less equal to commercial
coated/glossy papers. So far these are looking good, but its only a bit
over a year since I made them.
>
> But don't think watercolors are so very permanent. My late wife bought a
> watercolor painting that she put up in a dark hall here. It was
> brilliant,
> but after about ten years, the paper has become a dark ecru and the
> colors
> have definitely deteriorated.
If you paint watercolour on cheap or unsuitable paper it will not last.
Paint ranges normally give each colour a permanence rating, and obviously
if you choose the more fugitive ones they will fade pretty fast.
I've seen many watercolours that are a couple of hundred years old or more
and still fine (though almost certainly less bright than when produced.)
Peter Marshall
On Fixing Shadows and elsewhere:
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~ds8s
Family Pictures, German Indications, London demonstrations &
The Buildings of London etc: http://www.spelthorne.ac.uk/pm/
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