Microfading Tester International Discussion Group

Hello everyone,

Our Fotonowy MFT has been equipped with an LED changer containing 365nm and 390nm lights. I don't have any experience using these in testing and I wanted to know if anyone can direct me to some literature on how / what situations these are best used? Or if anyone can provide some general advice?

Thank you,

Noni

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Noni Zachri
Paper and Photographs Conservator
Grimwade Conservation Services
North Melbourne VIC
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Dear Noni,

Apologies for the late response!

At the GCI, our Fotonowy MFT is also equipped with an LED changer containing both narrow wavelength band LEDs as well as white LEDs at varied color temperatures. Though we've yet to conduct studies with the narrow band LEDs, I think our protocol will be to first obtain a pre-exposure spectra of a sample with a white LED. We would then rotate the changer to a narrow band LED to which the sample will be exposed for a period of time. This is to be followed by rotation of the changer back to the white LED to obtain a post-exposure spectra, giving us a sense of the color difference of the sample when exposed to light within that narrow wavelength range.

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Vincent Laudato Beltran
Scientist
Getty Conservation Institute
Los Angeles CA
vbeltran@getty.edu
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Hi Noni,

I used a Fotonowy MFT in my dissertation at the University of Glasgow but on mockups (pieces of silk dyed with aniline blue using a historic recipe) only. The equipment was new back then so my tutors and I decided to give it a go. I used mainly white LED but I did a few runs using the 385 nm beam. I reported some of the results in a poster.

Hope you find this very late reply still worth looking at. I'm quite interested in hearing about how others are using the UV feature as well.

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Gracile Celine Roxas
Textile Conservation Intern
British Library
London
United Kingdom
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Thank you Gracile and Vincent for your advice and input :)

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Noni Zachri
Paper and Photographs Conservator
Grimwade Conservation Services
North Melbourne
Australia
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2025 08:18
From: Gracile Celine Roxas
Subject: Use of 365nm and 390nm light sources for ageing tests using the Fotonowy MFT

Hi Noni,

I used a Fotonowy MFT in my dissertation at the University of Glasgow but on mockups (pieces of silk dyed with aniline blue using a historic recipe) only. The equipment was new back then so my tutors and I decided to give it a go. I used mainly white LED but I did a few runs using the 385 nm beam. I reported some of the results in a poster.

Hope you find this very late reply still worth looking at. I'm quite interested in hearing about how others are using the UV feature as well.

------------------------------
Gracile Celine Roxas
Textile Conservation Intern
British Library
London
United Kingdom
------------------------------