Air and fading

[JWB9999999]

I'd never heard this until a couple of weeks ago. A friend of mine in the trophy and plaque business insists that AIR exposure is responsible for fading. Therefore he tries not to sell document plaques (wood base with a plexi overlay) that the buyer can slip a certificate in/out of at their leisure through an opening on the side, as this means the certificate is always exposed to air. Instead he sells them the type of plaque that has a slight recess in the front face for the document and the plexi to both fit into, hence providing essentially an airtight enclosure for the certificate.

I understand that air carries particulates and pollution, which could damage a document and/or cause discoloration or fading to some degree. But I informed him that UV light exposure was going to be causing much more fading than I'd thought air ever could. He didn't believe me.

I assume that he believes oxygen or nitrogen must be reacting with the inks in the paper. Sounds crazy to me. Any truth to this air causing fading thing?

 

[artfolio]

That is a newie for me.

I would say that strong light (visible or ultraviolet) is a far greater threat to paper than air. In any case, unless someone comes up with a way to create a vacuum inside a frame the artwork is always going to be in contact with air.

 

[preservator]

Fading

The fading of colors can be described as photo-oxidation. It involves both light and oxidative gases. If all such gases, including oxygen, can be excluded, the fading can be prevented. This is done witht the most valuable documents which must be displayed, but it is complicated and costly. Another complicating factor is the fact that some colors (organo-metallics) can turn white when oxygen is removed, and it is important to ensure that no such colors are present, before an oxygen-free (anoxic) housing is developed.



Hugh

 

[MarkyW]

From what I can recall from school and my interest in science, which I haven't kept up with like I used to back then, there is the law of entropy which states that everything tends toward a lower energy state, which in effect means it is degrading.

Various things will hasten that degradation, and various things can slow down that degradation, but I don't think that it can truly be stopped. Even if something is kept out of any light, in a vacuum, controlled temp and humidity, it will degrade merely because it exists.

Of course, what we want to do is slow it down and not hasten it.

(Sidebar: I caught a repeat of Antiques Roadshow Sunday, and a person had a framed antique needlework. After the appraiser told the person the value they said it would be worthwhile going to a good framer and having a spacer used in the frame so that it wouldn't be right against the glass. I thought "good to hear that on the air", but then the appraiser gave the reason. "So that the textile could.......breathe."