Q . Is it ok to print clip art and fonts on a laser or color ink jet printer, then use them in my scrapbooks? DoI need to worry about acid or lignin?
A. I hear this question often and to be perfectly honest, we really don’t know. Computer scrapbooking hasn’t been around long enough to truly know.
We can pull out our grandparent’s scrapbooks and see how materials 50 years ago are treating the photos, but there is no scrapbooks that have been around that long that we can refer to now. What I can tell you is the acidity of the ink isn’t the issue, but how fade-proof the ink may be. Lignin is only a by-product of paper making and isn’t found in any type of ink. If you want to use clip art from your computer, attach it to the page so it doesn’t touch anything else then there is no damage to the photographs. As far as fading, you don’t keep your scrapbooks in the direct sunshine, so I think you are safe there, but I am no expert in this field. I usually stamp images either in color, or color them in. I hope this helps. If you have a question you would like to have answered here, please e-mail it to Carol@CreativelyCarol.com Creatively, Carol