Re: archival transparencies was Re: Pointless discussion?

From: Yves Gauvreau <gauvreau-yves@sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: archival transparencies was Re: Pointless discussion?
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 20:36:17 -0400

> you are right, I forgot about these but would they work to make a print?

Polyester film is commonly sold with suitable surface subbing as myler
replacement, etc. If you find one that's suitably surface sized and
accepts sensitizing solution well, then you can make print. However,
bare nakid polyester is most certainly not usable. This is purely
because of hydrophobic nature, swelling and adhesion property, and it
has nothing to do with archival property. POlyester is also used for
soft drink and mineral water bottles. Poly(ethylene telephthalate) is
a kind of polyester and it is very archival. It's also what's used for
sheet films. Poly(ethylene naphthalate) is used for APS films. (35mm
and 120/220 films use cellulose triacetate, which is less stable than
polyesters.) This is why good boys and girls don't throw plastic
bottles to ocean and forests.

> And what about the color of these materials, in other words, they
> are not very clear to me at least the Tri-X sheets (4x5) I use are
> definitely not clear and kind of greenish but would I used them for
> a "fine" print, probably not.

Film base is often tinted to decrease halation, and it has little to
do with archival property.
Received on Thu Apr 13 22:37:21 2006