Re: Hardening gelatin

Ryuji Suzuki wrote:
>
>
> If your unhardened gelatin size is undamaged by a treatment that is
> rougher than anything you could possibly (and maybe accidentally) do
> during processing, why do you bother to harden gelatin then?

I don't. As I've explained rather at length, I don't size as a rule, and
when I did size I've never hardened my size, except for this one time.

>
> One major difference between gelatin and gum is that unhardened gum is
> very soluble even in cold water, whereas unhardened but gelled gelatin
> is insoluble in cold water. In dichromated gelatin process, the
> exposed material must be washed by water that is hot enough to
> dissolve away the unexposed gelatin while retaining exposed gelatin
> and sizing material.
>

Ah, this is an excellent point, and well taken. Had I put a lot of
energy into thinking that I was hardening my size while I was hardening
my image, I'd feel a bit foolish at this point. But since I haven't, and
in fact 99% of my work has been done with no additional size, I don't.
But what you say makes sense.
Katharine
Received on Tue Mar 30 19:02:18 2004