THE PROBLEM.
Jet inks do NOT like water. Why? Jet Ink technology requires
inks to be completely 'liquid', that is, NO particles should be in the
solution. This has to do with physics -- or rather with how a stream of
liquid exiting from a VERY SMALL aperture is broken into micro-drops. In
this case, ink is jettisoned onto the paper to create print or graphics (if
interested to know more about this, please check out "Zen
of Jet Printer Cartridges and Jet Printer Cartridge Refilling").
Waterproofing always involves the presence of solids in the
ink that, however minute, do not dissolve in water. There are pigmented
black inks available. Pigments are indeed solid and minute enough not to
interfere with the jettisoning of the ink. But... if the cartridge is left
unattended and unused for a long time, pigments tend to accumulate on and possibly
clog the printhead. This is why we have cleaning
kits and solutions available to remove deposited ink pigments.
With color inks the problem is even worse, due to the
incompatibility of color pigments with jet printing. Most color inks are
dye-based.
In conclusion, relying on inks for waterproofing is
questionable to impossible.
THE SOLUTION.
....but if there is a will, there is a way. The solution to
reliable waterproofing (as well as UV protection) is to coat print or
graphics with the SureProof WaterProof Spray.
Simply spray the SureProof WaterProof directly from the
container. The spray is transparent, dries quickly, stays clear, really
repels water, contains no acid and has archival quality. It equally has
ant-fading quality and protects prints from exposure to UV rays, hence you
can leave the sprayed prints in the sun.
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