I have an 8x10 Floor Standing Elwood circa 1950 (it used to belong to Laura
Gilpin but that's another story.) Its bellows is some sort of gray pastic
over a course canvas. The plastic was badly flaking off leaving big gaps
where light would shine through the pourous canvas. Ok what harm could it
do? I dropped the bellows out of its gear track and let it hang full
length fully strectched out. A gray snowstorm ensued covering the floor
with gray confetti. I got out a 2 inch foam brush and coated the bellows
with the Elastoseal. It seemed to soak right through the plastic. When wet
the stuff is kind of grayish but dries to a semigloss black. I did a total
of 4 coats and the bellows is almost like new. No more flaking, it's light
proof and looks really cool. Since this stuff is supposed to do the Boogey
year in and year out on the roofs of mobile homes, I figure it's good for
another 50 years in my darkroom.
I also fixed a bellows on my 8x10 Calumet C1. Dumb dumb ordered a new one
from Calumet before I tried this stuff. I put the new one on the camera and
am going to use the old nicely patched up one to make a compendium. This
bellows was leaking only at the back and front corners on the corner folds
so I just painted them with about 4 coats. Fixed it up real nice.
If it is your primary workhorse camera, you'd probably want a good new
bellows. But for enlargers or that antique camera you just want to try out,
this stuff works wonders.
I can reapckage in small quantities if folks think this would be a nice
catalog item. I just don't know if there is a market for a bellows patch or
maybe someone else is selling something similar.
Dick Sullivan
Bostick & Sullivan
PO Box 16639, Santa Fe
NM 87506
505-474-0890 FAX 505-474-2857
http://www.bostick-sullivan.com