[Nhcoll-l] Gathering info on in-house testing of printed labels for fluid collections!

Thu Apr 23 12:04:49 EDT 2026

A caution against the eco tank printers that these are dye based inks and
not pigment, therefore should not be considered archival. It's getting
harder and harder to find low-cost pigment based inkjet printing especially
in monochrome.

Christopher C. Grinter
Senior Collection Manager of Entomology
Secretary, The Lepidopterists’ Society
Subject Editor: Lepidoptera, The Pacific Coast Entomological Society
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Dr
San Francisco, CA 94118
T 415.379.5320
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On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 8:58 AM Kendrick Fowler <kendrickorion at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi Gali,
>
> Thanks for moving this forward!
>
> My test has been appallingly unscientific, as it was not originally meant
> as a test of labels/ink nor meant to run as long as it has (and so has been
> neglected/not supervised with care).
>
> About 5 years ago (9 and 13 July 2021), I filled a variety of vials with
> 70% ethanol and placed into each of them a label identical to those we use
> for both our dry and wet specimens in our insect collection, then set the
> vials on a window ledge. They sat in the window for about two years until
> they were accidentally knocked down during an office cleaning, then were
> removed and placed into a clear deli container and have sat jumbled
> together in a different window since then. The vials that still retain
> alcohol up to or above the level of the label today were borosilicate vials
> with phenolic polyseal screw caps (Bioquip 8801P and 8804P) and
> polypropylene vials with TPE O-rings in the caps (Hyundai Micro
> HBS020CS1SF). The labels were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton
> paper using the black-and-white setting (which uses only black ink) on an
> Epson ET-4750 EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink (this is
> the standard black ink for the ET-4750, from the Epson T502 ink bottle
> pack) in 3 pt Avenir Book font, and the dates on the labels were
> handwritten using a black Pigma Micron pen (Sakura stock # XSDK005-49). The
> labels remain perfectly readable, but the text appears slightly to
> moderately faded compared to similar-aged labels that have been kept in the
> dark, or compared to newly-printed labels. In my subjective assessment (no
> quantitative measuring of contrast or anything like that), the text made
> using the printer and the text written in pen both appear faded to a
> similar degree; if anything, the text written in pen appears more faded
> because it originally appeared darker than the printed text, whereas now
> the text made using both methods appears about the same darkness (however,
> the text written in pen may only have appeared darker initially because its
> lines are much thicker than in the text made by the printer).
>
> Unfortunately, some of the above products are discontinued, but suitable
> alternatives are available (Bioquip is sadly no more, but polyseal/polycone
> vials can be obtained from a variety of sources; Sarstedt's 72.694.300
> vials are similar to the no-longer-available Hyundai Micro product named
> above, but seem in my subjective assessment to be higher quality; Epson
> offers a variety of EcoTank printers that take the same ink as the
> discontinued ET-4750 as well as other printers that take inks with
> different product numbers but that, according to their SDSs, appear to have
> a similar composition).
>
> Again, the above is terribly unscientific, so don't take it for more than
> it's worth. However, considering the popularity of Pigma Micron pens for
> handwriting labels, the fact that the printer ink (subjectively) appears to
> have held up just as well in this test gives me confidence in its longevity.
>
> Also, according to their safety data sheets (available online), both the
> Epson T5021 black ink and the ink in black Pigma Micron pens are colored at
> least in part using carbon black pigment, which should have excellent
> longevity.
>
> I hope this is helpful in some way!
>
> Kind regards,
> Kendrick
>
>
> *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager*
> Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program  |  hvfarmscape.org
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> On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 9:52 AM Gali Beiner <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> We very recently held a long (over 50 postings!) discussion here in
>> NHCOLL, headed "Desktop thermal printers?". In that thread, I mentioned the
>> possibility of creating some sort of "digital space" for information on
>> ongoing "informal" testing and follow-ups on labels in different places.
>>
>> *There is an opening for doing exactly this within the framework of the
>> SPNHC wikipages*. Those of you who conduct such ongoing informal tests
>> or have specific observations from "their" collections (Andy, Chris,
>> Fowler, Hans-Joachim and anyone else out there, apologies if I failed to
>> mention anyone) are very much invited to contact me. It will be good to
>> list the duration of your procedures, which products exactly you put under
>> observation, general conditions of your procedure, etc. I'll try to create
>> a table for the purpose.
>>
>> Let's see how this goes! All this info that never gets published because
>> it is "not exactly scientific" but still very interesting now has a chance
>> to be seen!
>>
>> Gali
>>
>>
>> --
>> Gali Beiner (ACR)
>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab
>> National Natural History Collections
>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram
>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel
>> Fax. 972-2-6585785
>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>*
>>
>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en
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