U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: Paper negative

Re: Paper negative



My comment refers to "paraffin" in its US usage, not "paraffin" as the same thing as kerosene, of course. Would be nice if we all called things by the same name.


On Dec 4, 2007, at 8:30 AM, Katharine Thayer wrote:

Loris, "Paraffin oil" or "liquid paraffin" or "mineral oil" isn't the same thing as paraffin, that Judy was talking about, which comes in a solid white block and is used to seal jelly jars when canning jelly. I tried paraffin for this purpose and rejected it early on, for a number of reasons, including that paraffin-waxed negatives were very susceptible to scratching; mineral oil is quite different both in application and in effect. My experience as far as stability is that negatives oiled 15 years ago are just as the day they were made.

kt







On Dec 4, 2007, at 8:01 AM, Loris Medici wrote:


David,

My bottle of "baby oil" says "Liquid Paraffin". BTW, IIRC, this kind of
treatment (paraffin) wasn't stable -> see Post Factory Photography #8 page
42...

I'm quite confused; when I read "mineral oil", Paraffin doesn't come into my
mind. I understand what you call "Kerosene" (Plane fuel & fuel for burning
in stoves... It's very good in making your car's paint shiny!) when I see
the words "mineral oil".

Regards,
Loris.



...

I just looked on Wikipedia because I wasn't sure I was remembering
right about the laxative part, and found a whole long list of uses
for mineral oil.  One thing I hadn't known is that baby oil is just
mineral oil with added fragrance (that "baby oil" smell).  No wonder
it makes my hands feel so nice.