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Re: Permanency of VDB (test)



>On Wed, 19 Jul 2000, Andre Fuhrmann wrote:
>
>  > ... I did a little test.  I partly covered a reject print
>  > with black paper and stuck it to my window, facing the sun for a
>  > couple of hours each day (well, on sunny days). ...
>
>
>Andre, here's what I wonder about and I wonder if you or anyone else can
>say:  is the sunlight fading an adequate test of archivality?

Let's say it's adequate for testing fading under the impact of sunlight ;-)

>   It's true
>that this print in 7 months got more *light* than under normal conditions
>a print would get in quite a few years.  But is *light* the only or even
>the major factor in fading a photograph? I recall Mike Ware's warning
>about the *smallness* of the silver particles... so what attacks them?
>Acid?  Air pollution? Dampness?.... my hunch would be other things than
>the light. And with the print taped onto the glass, the surface might
>actually have been well protected... even for 7 months which is as a blip
in the life of a timeless work of art...

Judy, I agree completely.  I just wanted to find out whether, other
things being equal, vandykes are particularly susceptible to fading
due to daylight exposure.  The answer seems to be: "not really".  The
fading is very minute, more noticeable is the change in tone.  The
latter may even work to the advantage of the image ("maturing").
Based on my test I venture the hypothesis that vandykes have a good
chance of keeping well provided they are kept well, i.e. in a
"healthy" environment.  I believe most of us have a good working
knowledge of what the latter involves.  And I fear more than that is
not really useful to the average ALTist since few of us are in a
position to provide for truly archival storage conditions.

André