The fading of IRIS prints A Study in Fading IRIS Prints, reaction and solution.

Abstract

During early 1990’s the inkjet IRIS printing technique was one of the first digital printing techniques used by artists for fine art printing. The technique was initially developed in the mid 1980’s, to do pre proof printing. It soon became clear that, though the technique had many aesthetic qualities, it also had poor qualities when it came to stability. It lacked light fastness and was very sensitive to high relative humidity levels (RH) and changes in RH. Research and testing of digital printing techniques have always been done, but for the most part, only to develop new, qualitative and cost effective techniques for the industry. Poor lightning policies can have immense impact on all art prone to fading. The IRIS prints have shown to fade more than other digital printing techniques and since the printers are no longer in common use, all IRIS prints can be viewed as originals. Many IRIS prints are also printed on different fine art paper and with different ink-sets i.e. all IRIS prints are different. This thesis will conduct MFT (micro fading testing) of IRIS prints and inkjet model materials. Some results pointed to the fading of a newly produced print to a higher extent than when solvents had evaporated several days later. The results of the conducted tests show that all IRIS prints will fade but to a different extent, due to different qualities of the prints. This study can be used to shed some light on what an IRIS print actually requires when it comes to preventive conservation.