Fade Tested Media is your Guarantee for Archival Life

Nowadays we see chain stores attempting to print images on canvas using unsuitable signage machines and often so called canvas specialists cut corners by not using a protective coating over what is a very fragile medium.

GMS is concerned about this decline in print quality and is trying to address the issue with education courses and by the supply of a complete system that when used together, produces high quality, truly archival images. Unlike so many media resellers, GMS actually fade tests much of its own art media and ink combinations and is capable of issuing a statement of longevity that has meaning.

Any canvas displaying “The Giclee System” logo must be printed on an Epson, Canon, Roland or Hewlett Packard pigment printer on one of the fade tested GMS canvas types. It must be framed under glass or liquid laminated with Aquathane-UV to the prescribed depth and must be stretched on GMS Gicleebars covered with Aquathane-UV to stop any wood acid or tannin ingress.

The “Giclee System Logo” also applies to art prints printed on Eterna Elite 100% cotton or Crane Museo 100% cotton buffered fine art paper using the prescribed printers and being framed under glass in an archival manner using only acid free or ph buffered mount boards.

During 2009 GMS and its supplier Eterna Media, will enhance the range of fade tested media to include new canvas types and their protective coatings. If you are a GMS customer and supply canvas or prints finished in this manner, please apply this logo with certainty that the products have been tested and their ratings are published on this website. These ratings and the logo may be reproduced on any limited edition canvas or prints made with this media by the prescribed and documented method.

For further information refer to How Fade Testing Works

Fade Test Data for GMS Supplied Art Media
with Epson Ultrachrome Ink
Media Type Protection Method Temperature Resistance to Humidity Years Tested By
InkjetPro Premium Edition Aquathane 22c Very High >102 Image Permanence Institute, USA
InkjetPro Premium Edition None 22c Very High 64 Image Permanence Institute, USA
InkjetPro Commercial Edition Aquathane 22c Very High Under Test Image Permanence Institute, USA
InkjetPro Commercial Edition None 22c Very High Under Test Image Permanence Institute, USA
GMS Natural Bright

Under Glass

20C

N/A

81

Sihl

GMS Natural Zero Under Glass 20c N/A 81 Sihl

Eterna Elite

Under Glass

20c

Very high

85

Sihl

Red River River Linen No Glass 22c Very High 49 Image Permanence Institute, USA
Red River Polar Matte Papers No Glass 22c Very High >51 Image Permanence Institute, USA
Red River Premium Polar Satin No Glass 22c Very High 35 Image Permanence Institute, USA
Red River Premium Matte Papers No Glass 22c Very High 49 Image Permanence Institute, USA








Fade Test Data for GMS Supplied Art Media with Canon Lucia Pigment Ink are Scheduled for Publication in late 2009