How Do You Protect Works on Paper? An Informal Materials Test

 In December of 2022, I decided to run a test to determine a couple of things:

1. How lightfast (resistant to fading or changing caused by light) are my most commonly used collage materials?

2. How well-protected are these materials by my usual framing methods (UV resistant plexiglass)?

3. Should I incorporate UV protective spray for additional protection? 

Works on paper can be delicate and susceptible to changes caused by light exposure. I also use a lot of fluorescent colors in my work, and even with protection, fluorescent pigments change over time. I had recently discovered Lascaux UV Protect spray, and I was excited that it could further preserve my work in addition to the UV resistant plexiglass I already include in my frames. 

Initially, I planned just to treat some scraps with the Lascaux spray and leave them in a bright window for a while, but after thinking more about it, I decided to run several tests:

1. A full sun control collage- no UV resistant spray or plexi

2. A fully protected collage- treated with both UV resistant spray and covered by UV resistant plexiglass

3. Collage treated with UV resistant spray (no plexi)

4. Collage covered by UV resistant plexi (no spray)

5. No sun control collage- kept in a cigar box in a flat file drawer

I ran the exposure test from December of 2022 through December of 2023, with all collages placed in a window that received southeast sun exposure for at least 4 hours each day of an average Virginia year (usual amounts of sun/cloudiness).

Here are the materials I used: 

1. Liquitex Acrylic Ink (quinacridone magenta)

2. Aleene’s Acid Free Tacky glue

3. Lascaux UV Protect spray (matte)

4. Micron Pigma Liner (black)

5. Micron Pigma Liner (rose)

6. Micron Pigma Liner (violet)

7. Holbein Acryla Gouache paint (lilac)

8. Holbein Acryla Gouache paint (luminous lemon)

9. Holbein Acryla Gouache paint (opera)

10. Holbein Acryla Gouache paint (luminous orange)

11. Holbein Acryla Gouache paint (luminous red)

12. Holbein Acryla Gouache paint (luminous green)

13. Derwent graphite pencil

14. Utrecht Watercolor (alizarin crimson)

15. Talons Gouache (intense black)

16-28. Prismacolor colored pencils (left column, top to bottom) parma violet, chartreuse, yellow
            chartreuse, lemon yellow, spanish orange, non-photo blue, limepeel, process red

            (right column, top to bottom) lilac, lavender, light aqua, hot pink, yellow orange

***Paper used for all tests is Canson XL Bristol paper.*** 

Here are the test collages after their year of exposure:

No sun exposure (left) vs. Full sun exposure (right)

UV resistant plexi (left) vs. UV resistant spray (right)

No sun exposure (left) vs. UV resistant plexi with UV resistant spray (right)

Predictions:

• Micron pen areas will come out the best (least fading). Prismacolor pencil swatches will be second best. Regular graphite will also do well.

• Best result will be the collage protected by UV spray and UV resistant plexiglass, right?

Observations:

• I was surprised by the amount of fading in the bottom row of colored pencil swatches, especially in the lilac and lavender colors. 

• Gouache and watercolor that were applied opaquely did well. Pigments applied as a wash faded A LOT, regardless of their level of UV protection (best shown by the red rectangle placed in the bottom left corner of all of the collages).

• The Lascaux spray didn’t seem to provide any extra protection (when compared head to head vs. the UV resistant plexi), AND it created a hazy cast on the black Micron areas of collages (you can see this in the black and white striped pieces near the middle of each collage) and also on the bottom right burgundy rectangles (mixture of watercolor and black gouache). Could this be the result of the matte finish? There are also semi-matte and gloss versions available. Is the one I got just funky? Based on this experience, I would not recommend it, but online reviews seem positive.

• BEST outcome (besides no sun exposure): collage protected by UV resistant plexiglass, for the win! It had some fading, but not fading along with hazy areas caused by the Lascaux spray. 

It is good to see real proof that UV resistant plexi is protective of the types of materials I usually use. Going forward, I will continue to include it in frames, and I will also try to avoid washy/thin areas of pigment.

Of course, the best protection for works on paper is always to keep them away from sunlight and fluorescent lighting.

Do you have any best practices for protecting works on paper? Have you had a better experience with UV protective spray? Please feel free to share in the comments.