From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Mathieu_Ren=E9?= <creaturiste-AT-primus.ca>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2010 16:10:40 -0500
Subject: [Puptcrit] Lightfastness test results


Hi all,
Last October, I made a test to see if inkjet printed eyes could last a 
while, enough to be trusted to use as prints for making realistic eyes for 
puppets that last.

So I took a strip of printed eyes of three different colors, and taped it on 
my window, facing outside, where the sun hits the most everyday.
After four months of this, I can see some fading has occured, but it's not 
as drastic as I had previously seen with other printed media from the same 
printer.


My inkjet printer is a Canon i470D, and I used Canon inks and paper for the 
test.
Canon said in print somewhere that their prints are guaranteed for 25 years 
when using their own products. After this test I cannot trust this 
statement.

Now, it failed my standards, so I won't use this method for my own puppets, 
but for some people or productions, it may be viable, especially when you 
don't need or want long lasting puppets.
Now, ephemeral puppets are not my cup of tea.

I have seen photos online of what faded eyes look like, on some old 
Thunderbird (or was it Captain Scarlet?) puppets where the eyes (pupils and 
irises) were actual mini photographs of human eyes. Spooky-milky. Very 
interesting, but it definitely was no longer the same character as intended.

If I ever need the often creepy precision of printed eyes, be they from 
photographs or digital illustration, I'll have to have it printed by 
professionnals.
Or maybe someday I'll get a Color Laser printer. I wonder if those are 
actually lightfast?


In truth, I prefer to paint the eyes myself, with artist quality acrylics 
that I know are lightfast.


About other brands of ink cartridges:
It is obvious that generic replacement inks are not at all lightfast 
compared to official brand names that go with a printer, after seeing a 
black and white print turn faded purple in about 2 weeks of light exposure. 
It was not even direct sunlight, the print was not facing a window, and the 
window let light seep through closed blinds.



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