Laser Point Ball

Laser Point Ball

I graduated from a professional art conservation program and you would think that they would have been more preservation minded" says Scott M. Haskins, preservation expert and author of How To Save Your Stuff from A Disaster. "But once I framed up my diploma (with archival materials and proper framing techniques) it took only a year or so of exposure to fluorescent lights (no natural light!) to fade the ball point pen signatures almost out of sight!"

Fading problems that can occur due to too much light (which contains ultra violet rays) include:

o Many (most!) types of ball point pens

o Watercolors

o Many types of ink jet printing inks (laser prints are more permanent)

Other problems can occur too from UV light:

o Paper yellows

o Paper embrittles

o Little spots or stains in paper appear (foxing)

Some inks don't fade... for instance, usually black printed inks from a professional printer don't fade.

But if you want to keep the signatures on your graduation certificate from fading into oblivion, consider these 3 great tips:

1. Hanging your framed item in a low light area will help. This doesn't mean just sunlight. Remember my example of fluorescent lights! The less light the better.

2. Use UV filtering glass or Plexiglas when framing. This is not a guarantee but will help. A lot of light, even with UV filtering glazing will still fade fugitive inks and pigments to some degree. Regular glass does not filter UV rays! Different UV filtering products will filter different percentages of UV... ask your framer for details. Obviously, the higher the percentage of UV filtered out, the better.

3. Consider scanning the original and framing the copy. Especially if you frame it up nice, no one will suspect that it's a copy. While you are at it, make a couple of copies and send one to your sister for safe keeping. It seems obvious to me that if you are going to make a copy to display in order to protect the original, then when you store away the original... protect it! Don't just throw it in a drawer or box.

Utilizing both tip # 1 and 2 will give you the best protection against fading if you have the original certificate framed and on the wall. You can use these same tips when framing kid's school work, artwork and anything else you're afraid might be damaged by fading. http://www.saveyourstuff.com

Scott M. Haskins is the author of "How to Save Your Stuff from a Disaster," ( http://www.saveyourstuff.com ) a non-technical book with instructions on how to protect and save important documents, photos and other items. He wrote a booklet on "How To Respond After an Earthquake" of which the Bank of America Corporation distributed over 500,000 through their Human Resource Depts after the Northridge Earthquake.