Is Japan Color resistant to fading?

[Glenn de Souza]

Hi,
I have had good results mixing my own pigment stains and glazes using Ronan Japan Color. I'm working on an outdoor project and I'd appreciate it if anyone can tell me how well Japan color resists fading when exposed to UV?

Thanks

[John TenEyck]

I believe Japan colors are inorganic pigments, so they won't fade.

John

[Steve Schoene]

Whether a pigment is inorganic or not isn't a complete measure of lightfastness. Pigments have been tested and rated for permanence. One testing has been done by ASTM standards organization, and there are some other scales. The place you can see these ratings is mostly with respect to artists colors. Of course we don't know what pigments Ronan uses on its Japan colors, but if important I suppose Ronan could be asks about its ASTM ratings. I'd suspect they have done a decent job in choosing pigments given the intended uses of Japan colors but I'd guess all colors are not equally lightfast either.

It is worth noting that Ronan sells a number of UV resistant topcoats for it's colored finishes, suggesting that the colors themselves are not lightfast.

[Glenn de Souza]

Thanks for the feedback. I decided to push ahead with the project using Japan colors for my pigment. My theory is that the historical application for Japan colors is sign painting so they must be fairly resistant to fading. Plus I am topcoating with Waterlox marine which claims to offer UV. protection. We'll see what happens. I'll report back if the color breaks down.

I've done a lot of toning and tinting with Transtints, but their literature is very explicit that it is not intended for sun exposure. Thanks again,