Paper in Plastic Sheet Protectors takes a Hammering!

It has been raining, and raining, for the past few days, so much so, that I have not been able to secure the 3 pages that blew off the roof. Finally, today (Sunday) a brief sunny period allowed me to hop up the ladder and re-secure the 3 wayward paper sheets to the roof. I was not prepared for what I was to discover. The 3 sheets of paper in the plastic sheet protectors that  remained on the roof, have all become totally wet. Due to heavy rain, the water penetrated the bottom ends of the plastic protectors which, I guess, were not well sealed and, due to capillary action the water seeped up all 3 sheets of paper and acted on the inks. Not surprisingly, since the paper has been wet for hours, the less water resistant (Ottoman Rose, Ottoman Azure, Midnight Blue, Blue Squeteague inks have faded considerably, to the point where they are illegible or semi-legible (Dark Matter and Borealis Black). The test has now taken on a different flavour: The plastic protected pages are now testing for water resistance and fade resistance as are the unprotected pages. However, the plastic protected pages are going to take a long time to dry, meaning the ink is subject to the action of light and water constantly, whilst the unprotected pages will dry quickly and be subject to moisture only some of the time. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out...

Water seeped into the plastic sheet protector and  almost washed away Dark Matter and Borealis Black

Black and Luxury Blue, in the plastic protector,  provide peace of mind! 

Midnight Blue has almost vanished in the plastic protected environment.

Scans after 3 Days and 2 Nights on the Roof

I have just scanned the pages after I left them to dry and before I secure them again to the Roof of the shed. It is interesting to note that the only colour to have almost disappeared is Ottoman Rose.  The other faded colours (Midnight Blue, Blue, Ottoman Azure and Squeteague) although not visible in the scan are actually legible to a degree.  However, I would not want to have to spend time straining to decipher notes if they became wet! I would definitely stick with the remaining colours: Borealis Black and Dark Matter I would rate as acceptable. Catalpa, Blue-Black, Navy, Coral Sea, Black, Luxury Blue, Aircorp, Ganges Blue and Black I would highly recommend.

The test is not over yet. The pages and inks will be on the roof of the shed once more! The paper is beginning to look worse for wear and feels a little brittle, but has not yet disintegrated. Let's see what happens in the next few days...

All Legible. Some easier to read though. 

The scan is a little light and loses detail, but you really wouldn't want to struggle to read the faded inks, although you could if you really had to! Forget about Ottoman Rose!

Midnight Blue is just barely legible. The other two you would be more comfortable using for important notes.

Three pages blew off the roof!

I arrived home today, the wind had picked up and it was raining, perfect ink testing weather! Day 3 of the roof paper test, and I climbed the ladder only to find the three exposed test pages missing from the shed roof. Gone! Anxiously I searched the garden to find 2 pages strewn in different directions and, alas, the third page missing. I assumed that it may have blown onto the neighbour's property and I  approached my kind neighbours to find, perfectly draped over the porch handrail, the third page! Phew! What a relief. The three wet pages are now drying in the bathroom to be properly secured to the shed roof tomorrow.

Paper worse for wear

Drying in the bathroom

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After 1 day and night

After a day and night (seems there was some rain) the inks are holding up well.  Although the least water resistant ones  are immediately faded, the writing is still legible. All the 'bulletproof' or 'near bulletproof' inks are in excellent shape. The inks being tested for fade resistance are enclosed in plastic sleeves and as would be expected there is no fading after one day.

"Bullet Proof "or "Near Bullet Proof" inks remain unaffected

As is expected Noodler's Black and Luxury Blue are unaffected. Squeteague, Ottoman Rose, Ottoman Azure and  Blue faded due to rain.

Noodler's Midnight Blue faded in the rain

Covered in a sleeve protector; no signs of fading

No signs of fading in plastic sleeve protector

No fading due to Sleeve protector

Test Sheets Positioned on Shed Roof!

Aussie Copy paper used in test

Shed

Before positioning on shed roof

All in Position!

Finally on this bright sunny Monday morning I attached the test sheets to the roof of the shed. Let's see what happens over the next few days.

Scans of Noodlers to be Tested on the roof of my shed!

scans of Noodler's Inks 12 March 11

Finally, here are the scans of Noodler's inks I will test for lightfastness and water resistance on the roof of my shed! It's also an interesting comparison of some of the range of colours available.

Noodler's Inks to be tested outdoors on the roof of my shed!

As my first tests of fountain pen inks I have selected a few Noodler's inks and will subject them to an unusual test. I will stick paper with the various colours onto the roof of my shed in the garden and subject these pieces of paper to the elements for a while and see how the various colours perform with regard to water resistance and fading. I'm not sure how this will turn out... I will paste these test pages on the roof soon! So let's see what happens...