We live in a Scarborough neighbourhood, so that means that people use the side door. Front door’s for people who know no better. So we need a Side Door sign to guide the unschooled.
On the left is one I just printed. The one on the right — same printer (HP Photosmart C5180), same paper — has been taped to the glass on our front-facing screen door since December 2007, in full sunlight. It’s barely legible. (And yes, it has slightly different fonts/layout; the original was done on a PC in OpenOffice, the replacement in LibreOffice on a Mac.)
So whenever an inkjet crows about “Archival Inks!”, remember: four years to fade to white. Do you need your images to last longer?
Just had to replace it again. Seems like four years to white is the best that HP ink could do. Here’s the one I replaced today: https://www.instagram.com/p/_Mm2aTxUD29NHHnDKEAbU2tJvaPWr4zT_jBlo0/?taken-by=scruss
(and I replaced it with something hand drawn in Winsor & Newton black India Ink. Try fading out shellac and carbon …)