U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Talas, etc.

Talas, etc.




Judy wrote:

So what is "Rhoplex" anyway?  The name is so familiar it could be anything.
On Fri, 17 Apr 2009, etienne garbaux wrote:

It is a water-based acrylic adhesive made by Rohm & Haas, sold for use "neat" or as a formulating base. Interestingly, R&H says, "RHOPLEX N-580 is suggested for use where permanent pressure-sensitive bonds are required." See:

http://talasonline.com/photos/instructions/rhoplex_n-580_info.pdf
Here is a short blurb from the Talas page:

An aqueous acrylic emulsion, providing excellent adhesion on paper, fabric and hard to bond surfaces. Can be used as a contact adhesive. Used commonly to bond light weight papers such as tissues and newsprint without cockling in collage and chine colle, pH 8.4 with a high molecular weight. (From: http://apps.webcreate.com/ecom/catalog/product_specific.cfm?ClientID=15&ProductID=17838)
That's perfect -- thanks so much. When you say all those things, the picture does start to fill in... I used to know some of it. What also comes to mind is a period in probably the '90s when various Kodak products were discontinued, as Kodak eased out of darkroom and camera-related materials. When you asked for X, Y or Z, the salesman would say they don't make that any more, but this is just as good. Why this association to Rhoplex ???, probably....

Talas lists Wheat Paste and Methyl Cellulose as "related products."
Did I mention finding a half pound of methyl celulose in the same cabinet as the Rhoplex? I checked my old Talas catalog & found something along the lines you cite, but don't have a clue what I planned to do with it.

Our local Talas (on Broadway in Soho) is no more. Evidently high rents drove it to Brooklyn, but it's not there yet. However, yesterday, someone told me about a shop that was driven out of its Brooklyn location by high rents, and is now back in Manhattan (where rents have dropped a lot since Wall St when bust).

But I REALLY miss that Talas.

J.



Best regards,

etienne