Has this ever happened to you?
One of the worst things that can happen to a collector is to have a fine art print or photograph fade over time.
While this is not a problem when dealing with an artist or photographer who understands the situation, many newer artists unfamiliar with the printmaking process make this mistake.
And what is the mistake?
It's the ink.
I know an artist who has been in the business for over twenty years. When he first started, he wanted to make prints of his work.
He went to a facility in Philadelphia that convinced him that they knew how to make prints better than he did. Back then, the minimum run he could order was 1,000 prints. I don't know how many pieces of artwork he had printed, but it was quite a few.
He began selling them in his gallery. Then, a couple of months later, one of his customers returned the print showing him some fading of the image. So he gave her another, and she left. Then, a couple of months later, she returned. That's when he knew he had a problem.
It turned out that the printer used dye-based ink. This type of ink consists of a color and water mixed, like mixing red Kool-Aid in water.
Since he stored his prints in a dark closet and stacked them, the fading wasn't noticeable. However, once the customer exposed her copy to light and air, the fading process began. That's why posters stuck to your child's bedroom walls don't last very long.
The problem
It's the ultraviolet rays from sunlight that break down the ink and begin the fading process. You can limit the fading by using UV (ultraviolet) resistant glass and making sure the print avoids direct sunlight.
The ink used in the fine art collectible market is pigment-based. This ink is similar to the paint artists use to create their original paintings. Artist paint combines a pigment (pulverized rock) suspended in a medium, typically linseed oil. Pigment-based inks use particles suspended in water.
The solution
There is a lot more to discuss on this topic. Suffice it to say, my artwork is printed one at a time with the finest UV-resistant inks using a high-resolution large format printer. I use thick, pigmented inks that mimic my original brushstrokes. As the matched and coated support (more about supports next time) receives the ink, the result is an opaque, rich, and brilliant reproduction of the original painting. In addition, the UV properties of the ink ensure a fade-resistant, long-lasting beautiful image you'll be proud to hang in your home.
