Hi! I'm working with tinting/coloring BW pictures; I really prefer the texture or lack thereof that I get from using dyes/watercolors and food colorings vs oils. My question is if anyone can help me out with the archival"ness" of the three options I've been using. I just want to make sure that my efforts stay fairly true... Please email me at Hap2Go@aol.com if you have an answer. I have a hard time getting back to the boards. Thanx!!

-- A Helms (Hap2GoNOSPAM@aol.com), November 12, 1997

Answers

[Also answered by mail.]

You can't expect clothes dyes or, especially, food colourings to be very permanent. Mind you, I have a twenty-year old photo done with clothes dyes,on a wall behind glass, and it still looks OK, even if the colour may not be as vibrant as when I first made it.

Artists' watercolours are a good option, but the permanence of these do vary. The tubes of, for example, Winsor and Newton watercolour have an indication of the permanence. Brochures from them also give the transparency and tinting strength, which are both relevant to you.

Even with highest quality watercolours, if you are going to hang them on walls, you should put them behind glass.

Oils give a very different effect, IMHO usually horrible on photographs. Perhaps heavily diluted in turps would be OK.

-- Alan Gibson (gibson.al@mail.dec.com), November 13, 1997.