Printing on archive paper using pigment ink.

[woodman-46]

Hi,
Another question !
I have been printing text onto paper using pigment ink. The paper is called Mondi 3 and is chlorine free and described as such " Mondi BIO TOP 3 Natural White A3 120gsm paper is archival quality and meets ISO 9706 standards".
Up until now I have been spraying each sheet with a UV fixative to prolong the life of the paper and ink and to prevent yellowing.
I am wondering if this is unnecessary ( it is time consuming )though as pigment ink has a very long " life" and this paper is archival and presumably shouldn't yellow.
Any advice is welcome but particularly please from anyone who knows for sure about these things.
Thanks

[Justintime]

You may struggle to find definitive answers for this question here amongst picture framers as our work generally starts later on in the process.
I have never heard of a UV fixative for paper (but then why would I..) but it's perhaps worth considering that you're adding a UV fixative to archival paper therefore, I would suggest, negating its archival quality. There are so many levels of protection for works on paper. Packing in archival materials stored in the dark in a humidity and temperature controlled atmosphere. Framing it with level 1 materials and hanging it in controlled lighting etc or out of direct sunlight. Using a 99% UV filtered glass to minimise the effects of light.
I have seen Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) drawings on paper in a gallery with no obvious signs of yellowing. So many unknowns! What sort of longevity are you hoping for with your work?? Knowledge and materials are evolving all of the time.
If you are genuinely concerned with the longevity of your work over decades or centuries and assuming that it is intended for display, I would suggest ensuring that you use the highest quality inks and the highest quality archival paper and frame it to the highest possible current standards. You have to leave the rest to chance and hope that future recipients treat it with as much care as you have during it's creation.

[JFeig]

If you are looking for a real archival quality paper you have to avoid most commercial papers that are made from wood pulp and only consider 100% cotton fiber, mulberry based, or similar products. Processed alpha-cellulose papers, lignin free, might also be considered.

Do you have a link to the technical specifications of the paper you are considering?

[Framerpicture]

You don't state which form of printing you are using?

As Giclee printers, we use pigmented inks and print on various coated fine art watercolour papers that are either 100% cotton or a Cotton and Alpha Cellulose mix . We've been doing this for over 25 years, in some volume, and haven't yet encountered a problem with fading.

The type of paper significantly affects lightfastness, with factors like paper composition (lignin content), bleaching methods, and surface properties influencing how well the paper and any inks or pigments on it resist fading.

Many moons ago, we did try to produce a cheaper range of prints using a A3 laser printer on uncoated paper. They looked great hot of the press, but a year later we stopped this as it became obvious they were fading and sometimes quite badly. I'm unsure of the lightfastness of current laser printers, but the data is out there!

If you're inkjet printing using pigment inks, for your own piece of mind, it could be best to do a physical test, and print out samples and leave then in various levels of daylight/sunshine!

[Richard Photofusion]

ISO 9706 appears to be a physical standard - see https://www.rkburt.com/home/articles/is ... long-life/from someone* who specialises in good paper.
Hahnemuhle, Photospeed, Canson, Innova etc all produce papers with 0% lignin, zero optical brighteners.

Not all pigment inks are created equal.

*I've been buying most of my fine art "Archival" papers from RK Burt for the past 15 years.