U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: clearing dichromate stain

Re: clearing dichromate stain

On Jan 8, 2007, at 9:56 PM, Katharine Thayer wrote:


On Jan 8, 2007, at 8:26 PM, Judy Seigel wrote:

Sil did say (rightly or wrongly in whatever terms -- should be in the archive for those who care) that it's not necessary to *clear* a gum print for the purpose of archivality.

If that's what he had been cited for saying, I wouldn't have made an issue of it, because I don't know if it's true or not, and either way, at least there's no internal consistency in the statement. But he was cited as follows, quoted from Chris's compilation:


Sil Horowitz says that the dichromate is already fully oxidized and is relatively inert. PF 6 36"

which, as I said above, doesn't make sense.



<<<SNIP>>>>>
... there's no assurance that the second source isn't misinterpreting the information, as may have happened in this case.


No, Sil said it clearly and unequivocally...

Maybe we're getting confused about what the citation was. Are you claiming that Sil actually said, clearly and unequivocally, that "the dichromate is already fully oxidized and is relatively inert?" I've searched the archives and I can't find anything searching on Sil Horowitz about clearing, about dichromate, about anything. Did he post under another name?
Okay, I realized I was spelling his name wrong; it's Horwitz, not HorOwitz. But even with the name right, I can find nothing in the archives from him about clearing dichromate stain; I used the terms "dichromate, stain, chromium, oxidized, reduced, clearing." There were some hits, but none of them were relevant to this discussion. But I did find the assertion

"MYTH #3 OF GUM PRINTING -- THAT SOMETHING *BAD* WILL HAPPEN TO YOUR GUM
PRINTS IF YOU DO NOT CLEAR. Fact: THE CHROME LEFT (IF ANY) IS ALREADY
FULLY OXIDIZED..... IF WHATEVER TINGE OF ORANGE REMAINS DOESN'T BOTHER
YOU AESTHETICALLY (and I rather like it), IT WON'T BOTHER ANYTHING ELSE.*


in a post from Judy Seigel in 2001, link here for the whole post:

http://www.usask.ca/lists/alt-photo-process/2001/mar01/0433.htm

This is starting to look a lot like the sausage thing, where a myth about dichromate having been used as a preservative in sausages was created on the alt-photo list and repeated til everyone came to believe it.
Katharine