Sunlight vs. Fluorescent Light (LF Question)

[bleuie]

Hi everyone, I'll be doing my first commission and LF is a major concern. We have here sets of Prismacolor, Koh-I-Noor Progresso and Polycolor, and Derwent Watercolour pencil, but there are no open stocks. There are those which are highly lightfast but are very expensive and not always available like Van Gogh 45's, Lyra Rembrandt Polycolors 12's, and Polychromos 12's.

1. Prismacolor is not highly rated for LF but most tests like http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/show...hreadid=938813 is based on direct sunlight. Will the colors change also if it's not exposed to direct sunlight but only under fluorescent light?

2. We have no open stocks here and I can only afford the 36pc set of Prisma and some of the useful colors are not very LF. Will spraying with UV stabilizers coating protect the non LF colors? I won't be framing with glass.

3. The only available UV protection here is Golden Archival Aerosol MSA Varnish with UVLS and Golden Gel Topcoat w/ UVLS but these are very expensive. Will it work if I spray the it first with Krylon Crystal Clear then put the UVLS as the final spray? I don't know if using different brands and products will match.

Thanks

[AnnGarlough]

Fluorescent light is also damaging to pigments. Since you won't be framing under glass which could be useful if it was UV resistant, the best advice I can offer is to urge your client to hang the piece as far from fluorescent and direct sunlight as possible. I'm not familiar with the Golden products you mentioned.

Congratulations on the commission. Let us know how it goes!

[TessDB]

Ann's right-- Fluorescent lighting is just as bad as sunlight.
If you're framing without glass, what sort of paper/surface are you going to be using?

Some papers will degrade over time, too. Especially if exposed to humidity. And of course, some colored papers can fade with light exposure, too.

I hope someone who is familiar with the fixatives you mentioned will pop in soon!

And congrats on the commission! How exciting.
Rosemary

[bleuie]

Originally Posted by AnnGarlough

Fluorescent light is also damaging to pigments. Since you won't be framing under glass which could be useful if it was UV resistant, the best advice I can offer is to urge your client to hang the piece as far from fluorescent and direct sunlight as possible. I'm not familiar with the Golden products you mentioned.

Congratulations on the commission. Let us know how it goes!

Thanks Ann, I'm gonna put some notice on the back of the artwork on how to properly display and care for it.

[bleuie]

Originally Posted by TessDB

Ann's right-- Fluorescent lighting is just as bad as sunlight.
If you're framing without glass, what sort of paper/surface are you going to be using?

Some papers will degrade over time, too. Especially if exposed to humidity. And of course, some colored papers can fade with light exposure, too.

I hope someone who is familiar with the fixatives you mentioned will pop in soon!

And congrats on the commission! How exciting.
Rosemary

Rosemary, thank you so much. I'm using 200gsm Canson Watercolor Paper (rough, acid free). It's going to be mounted on a wooden frame and I'm thinking of using Acrylic Soft Gel Medium as adhesive.

It's acid free so will it be ok to use it?

[TessDB]

I really don't know... wish I did!

Have you experimented with the gel adhesive and the paper before? Just to make sure the combination will do what you're thinking it will?

something to check is if the adhesive could soak through the paper. And if so, would it affect the cp on the front? I'm wondering if there's anything in it that might act like a solvent & "melt" the cp from the back...

I realize I'm probably creating more questions than answers here! Hopefully someone who *knows* the products will stop in soon!

Rosemary

[bleuie]

Originally Posted by TessDB

I really don't know... wish I did!

Have you experimented with the gel adhesive and the paper before? Just to make sure the combination will do what you're thinking it will?

something to check is if the adhesive could soak through the paper. And if so, would it affect the cp on the front? I'm wondering if there's anything in it that might act like a solvent & "melt" the cp from the back...

I realize I'm probably creating more questions than answers here! Hopefully someone who *knows* the products will stop in soon!

Rosemary

Rosemary, thanks for pointing out some issues. I've seen a video about adhering watercolor paper using gel adhesive. One of my concern is the edges and corners that may lift if I use PVA glue but the gel adhesive is used for acrylic painting and has the same characteristic and permanence just like acrylic paint, and it can also be used as an adhesive or top coat for collage. The site info says it has the same archival property of an acrylic paint.

Here's the link to the video http://www.goldenpaints.com/VIDEO/player.php?ID=46&P=1

[GhettoDaveyHavok]

Yeah, tell the client to hang it in some room that doesn't have too much light. I know. It's a pain in the butt with lightfast issues. Someday it be a good idea to save and invest in some of those expensive pencils like Lyra polycolor oil pencils. I have a 24 set of them and they got very good lightfast rating. Is Faber-Castel polychromos also available around? I have this 120 set and it's got loads of lightfast colors. It just puts a big dent into the wallet. :/ Save up when ya can.

I just checked your deviantart, too. You got really beautiful work! Keep it up! Also, have fun with that commission!

[bleuie]

Originally Posted by GhettoDaveyHavok

Yeah, tell the client to hang it in some room that doesn't have too much light. I know. It's a pain in the butt with lightfast issues. Someday it be a good idea to save and invest in some of those expensive pencils like Lyra polycolor oil pencils. I have a 24 set of them and they got very good lightfast rating. Is Faber-Castel polychromos also available around? I have this 120 set and it's got loads of lightfast colors. It just puts a big dent into the wallet. :/ Save up when ya can.

I just checked your deviantart, too. You got really beautiful work! Keep it up! Also, have fun with that commission!

Thanks Crystal, I'm thinking of using Lyra and Polychromos but they only have the 12pc set here. Maybe I'll just supplement them with My Koh-I-Noor which have a fairly decent LF ratings and some of the Prisma too.

Thanks for looking at my DA gallery.

[ManedWolf]

Bad news and good news, friends.

The bad news is that, as far as I know, the stars in the inside of the Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor lid seem to be put there very randomly. They were useless back in the early 1990s when the cores were made by Faber-Castell, and since they haven't been changed, they are very probably still useless.

The good news is that the newest Faber-Castell Polychromos 120 colour sets (I recently bought a set with a price tag from 2008) contain even more ** and *** colours than ever before. There are now only two * colours (119 light magenta, 160 manganese violet), colours like 128 light purple pink, 134 crimson, 136 purple violet and 154 light cobalt turquoise now have two stars and 137 blue violet is a *** colour! (Something similar has happened to the FC Albrecht Dürer set, too, although there are still half a dozen * colours.)

I'd say that, although pricey, the FC Poly set is worth every penny.

I wouldn't trust the Koh-i-noor Polycolor stars either. Some of them look too optimistic.

Heikki

[bleuie]

Originally Posted by ManedWolf

Bad news and good news, friends.

The bad news is that, as far as I know, the stars in the inside of the Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor lid seem to be put there very randomly. They were useless back in the early 1990s when the cores were made by Faber-Castell, and since they haven't been changed, they are very probably still useless.

The good news is that the newest Faber-Castell Polychromos 120 colour sets (I recently bought a set with a price tag from 2008) contain even more ** and *** colours than ever before. There are now only two * colours (119 light magenta, 160 manganese violet), colours like 128 light purple pink, 134 crimson, 136 purple violet and 154 light cobalt turquoise now have two stars and 137 blue violet is a *** colour! (Something similar has happened to the FC Albrecht Dürer set, too, although there are still half a dozen * colours.)

I'd say that, although pricey, the FC Poly set is worth every penny.

I wouldn't trust the Koh-i-noor Polycolor stars either. Some of them look too optimistic.

Heikki

Thanks for the info Heikki, I've read good reviews about Polychromos and it's too bad we have only a 12pc set here and it's very scarce.

Yesterday I saw a store carrying a 60pc set of Van Gogh colored pencils and it's only around $68. It's a real bargain, I just hope it's still available when I get the downpayment from my client, it's the last available stock. They say Van Gogh's are highly lightfast but I don't know how well it lays down on paper, I haven't seen any works done with it.

[jimmlenk]

Fluorescent lighting is just as bad as sunlight. If we are framing without glass, What sort of paper/surface are we going to be using? Some papers will degrade over time, too. Especially if exposed to humidity and of-course, Some colored papers can fade with light exposure, too. Fluorescent light is also damaging to pigments. Since we won't be framing under glass which could be useful if it was UV resistant. Please produce some more attachments about the topic to view detail information.

[George924]

Have you ever wondered why all of the great paintings from the masters still have their great color...it is because for the first several hundred years they were kept in the dark. All light will damage color, especially red pigments. Here is a website I found that may help you out or point you into a new direction.

http://jawcooper.blogspot.com/2011/0...n-wood-or.html