On Sat, 12 Mar 2005, Katharine Thayer wrote:
>
> There are other causes for speckling, of course, beyond this hot water
> thing; no argument there.
Your words about "other causes" bring a forgotten episode to mind -- It
was the first gum class I'd ever taught and a couple of the students got
speckled prints... Naturally they thought the teacher would explain what
they'd done wrong. I panicked -- I'd only made one gum print in my life
(well, maybe two) before starting that class at very short notice. I
went home and tested, also checked "the literature" for the rest of the
week. What I found (mercifully before the next class) was that my formula
for the gelatin size was at 1/4 strength, that is, I'd written the
worksheet with one packet of Knox per liter instead of 4.
It was never clear whether I'd copied the info wrong or my source had it
wrong, but with the correct formula it was some years before we had the
problem again -- then it happened when the cold water pipe turned scalding
at (as I said) about 11 in the morning, due to, it seemed, mysterious
forces in Brooklyn.
So, a possible theory -- the scalding water washed off some gelatin,
making it somewhat like the 1/4 strength size.
Judy
Received on Mon Mar 14 01:00:27 2005
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