Canvas Prints and Their Life Span

Customise canvas has been pretty popular in the last ten years since online stores have bloomed. Printing on website canvas stores are well settled into shopping centres everywhere, but there are some affairs and concerns usually over how well-made they are and how long they last. Hopefully, this article will help you get an idea of their longevity, both structurally and also in style. It will also bestow a little info on how they’re made to help you understand the quality canvas prints.

A difficult question

There’s no surprise that the questionability of canvas prints is a popular one in the industry.  The lack of a straight answer to this question can often be confusing for customers who are interested in buying a print. The annoying thing is that there are so many determinants for the life span of a canvas print that it has to be done cautiously.

The industry term for something that will last a long time, like for over 100 years by definition, is archival and it is a milestone that many of the big print companies strive to provide. Let us further explain this point.

The term “archival” is one of the most abused within the inkjet printing industry. It has come to mean that the base product is both acid and lignum free (<1%), a fact guaranteed by the majority of cotton and cotton/polyester base products.

Almost all affordable canvas products sold by reputable makers for inkjet reproduction are archival by the above definition. Their makers know that almost none of them will survive more than 100 years without detectable fading unless they are laminated or covered by UV protecting the glass.

So, the agreement comes down to a choice of whether a canvas needs to be laminated or framed with UV protected glass to last longer than you will.

Do you need it to last that long?

Knowing this information, you need to ask yourself how long you want the print to last. There will be individual extra costs to frame and laminate each of your prints, so is it worth it?

This will often depend on what exactly you want to print. If it is a traditional style family portrait, then you may want to be able to pass it on to future generations. It is to let them have some idea of who their relatives are without having to go through family tree sites. Also, if you want some beautiful pictures of lilies to stick in your bathroom, then you’ll to be worried about them lasting for more than ten years even in the damp conditions.

Other things you can do

Beyond physical ways to alter the print to make it last longer, there are certain things you can do to keep it protected from wear and tear.

The first one is already mentioned: check the moisture and dampness in the room it’s in. Places like a small bathroom will mean the print declines in quality much quicker than it would normally.

Another significant factor is natural and artificial lighting. Direct sunlight will quickly wear any artwork down to a mess over a few years of harsh weathering. So make sure you put the print in a shaded area if you live in a very sunny place.