How old is old ink?

[rodbam]

I think my IS inks are getting to about one year old & have just received a new batch but unopened as yet. I've had a couple of problems lately & was wondering if it had anything to do with the ink being a bit old. I printed up a shot with a very dark background for a club comp & when they finished with it I put it naked on the shelf in my computer room where it got some very weak late afternoon sun on it for about 10-15 mins a day & the print showed quite bad signs of fading especially the quite dark background which started to turn a sort of magenta colour after about 4 weeks. I didn't worry about because I thought it was the sunlight doing the fading but last month I printed up a shot of a bird to hang behind glass on my wall but I broke the glass so it has been on my wall naked for about 6 weeks with no sunlight & the room isn't overly bright but I can see some magenta starting to appear in the shadows as it's starting fade.
Also about three weeks ago I printed up two B&W prints & had them propped up in the same not very bright room so I could evaluate how good they were before putting them in for judging & they started to turn a sepia colour after about 3 weeks, I use the Easy Print Pro plug in from Canon in Photoshop which gives me very neutral B&Ws but when I reprinted the two B&Ws for the club they had a greenish tinge which I've never seen before when using this plug in. My monitor & printer are profiled with my ColorMunki. I wonder if I need to completly flush my carts & throw away what little ink I have left from the old batch which I don't mind doing as this one batch has saved me a fortune. The only worry I have is my red & green bottles are still 3/4 full so I would hesitate to toss them out.
Canon pro9000 & IS inks.

 

[stratman]

Rod:

Have you tried re-profiling your ink and paper to compensate for any drifting in ink properties over time as well as changes with your paper?

It could be one or more of your inks have oxidized, dessicated, or have a biologic growth in them. One year old ink is well within it's "freshness" date except if storage conditions are not optimal. How are you storing ink - what size bottles, opened how often, anytime ink poured back into the storage bottles, stored in what sort of environmental conditions, etc?

It could be conditions have changed inside your home, such as more damaging gas/ozone to decrease fade time. (A canary in a coal mine warning?)

It could be a contaminant in a cartridge(s)? Might be worthwhile to purge and then refill using fresh (new) ink from Image Specialists. Try using your red and green ink stock first and then buy new stock if there still is an issue.

Don't forget to profile your new ink with your ColorMunki.

 

[Grandexp]

One year old ink is not too old to give you problems. Image Specialists inks for Canon are based on 10 year old formulation. Some if its part numbers for Canon inks have been 10 years old. This means The color dyes are old technology too. While newer and better color dyes are developed and used by OEM and possibly other 3rd party ink manufacturers Image Specialists keeps using the same old dyes for its Canon inks. I would not be surprised that it does not hold up well in fading. Some low quality Chinese made ink were known to fade in a month. I have had those from the Convention Center in Los Angeles from where you could find prefilled cartridges for $0.75 a pop. The ink from those cheap carts will fade in a month.

 

[rodbam]

This early fading or colour change is a new phenomenon as other prints done with the same batch of ink done 8 or nine months ago are still looking fine after being on my shelf exposed to the air without glass.
I must admit my storage isn't ideal, I just keep my 4oz bottles in the box they came in but the lid is partly open & it's kept in a built in wardrobe in my computer room & the wardrobe doors are often open so we can get at various things my wife & me keep in there for our hobbies so light does get in there.
I haven't re profiled with the new batch of paper, the paper I'm using now is Ilford Gallerie smooth pearl but it's the box that had that bad smell which turned out to be in the lid. I changed the lid & there's no smell now.
I might flush all my carts & start using my new batch of inks & do another profile & see how that goes. I don't keep track of how often I refill but I suppose it might be at the earliest 2 weeks & sometimes 3-4 weeks depends on how many prints I stuff up until I get a good one
At this time the two prints that have changed colour or faded are quite dark looking prints with a lot of almost black backgrounds which take on a magenta look as a early sign of something wrong.
I should really take care of my storage & make sure my inks are kept in the dark a.
One other thing is I'm using squeeze bottles with a small cap that goes on the needle & a couple of times the needle has been blocked with ink & I have to put a new needle on. I wonder if that means air is getting in to my ink.

 

[stratman]

Rod:

Your storage does not sound horrible in any fashion. Definately try to keep the ink cool and away from light, especially direct light, if possible.

It could be the caps you use are not air tight or a contaminant got in at some point. I use the squeeze bottles too and use scabbards/needle covers that screw into the plastic base of the needle. After refilling, I take a small patch of folded-up paper towel to wipe down the needle with the bottle in the upright position, fold the paper towel in half again, and then wrap the paper towel around the needle tip while I squeeze the bottle ever so slightly to push out any ink remaining in the needle. I have blunt tipped needles, so caution if tried with sharp tipped needles. I have never had a blockage in any needle.

I wonder if the issue is from the paper, either from needing to profile it or somehow it was altered by whatever was causing the smell. Have you tried another profiled photo paper (one that isn't stinky)? This would point towards the ink as the culprit.

 

[rodbam]

Thanks for the cleaning tip I will definitely do that from now on & my needles are the blunt ones. The only other paper I have is some A4 Kodak I use for test prints so I will print up the fading shot again on that paper & see how it goes. I will be horrified if it's the paper as it cost $68 for 25 sheets of 13" x 19". The shop I bought it from will be OK with returns even though I've used half of the paper. I hope the lid still stinks to make returning a lot easier
Thanks for all your help Mate

 

[OutOFtheinkwell]

Don't overlook the paper you use, it's at least as important as the ink and mating the ink to the correct paper is important.

 

[rodbam]

Yes it turned out to be a bad batch of paper. The same batch of inks are performing great on my new papers.

 

[stratman]

Yes it turned out to be a bad batch of paper. The same batch of inks are performing great on my new papers.

Please try to not pee on this batch of paper.

(inside joke)

Good to hear you're back in Printer Happyland again!

 

[rodbam]

Printer Happyland, that sounds nice