RE: Glassine Envelopes

Glassine has varied a lot over the years, along with its method of
manufacture. It has to be made translucent, either by the addition of
chemicals and or simply by pulverizing the fibers until they are very very
short. Either method makes the glassine extremely hygroscopic (and thus
translucent due to high moisture content), which is a problem in itself when
used as a storage material in direct contact with photographs. Also, some
find that it sticks very easily to negatives materials and that the fibers
are difficult to remove. It has been known to darken/yellow and become
brittle upon aging. The ISO enclosures standard makes a recommendation
against its use for photographic enclosures in a list of materials that are
"chemically or physically unstable".

Gawain Weaver

-----Original Message-----
From: Ryuji Suzuki [mailto:rs@silvergrain.org]
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 12:53 AM
To: alt-photo list
Subject: Re: Glassine Envelopes

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 18:39:59 -0500, "etienne garbaux"
<photographeur@nerdshack.com> said:
 
> Just be aware that glassine envelopes are a far cry from archival by
> today's standards. Conservators have advised against them for at least
> 30
> years now.

What's the basis for this? In my understanding, "archival" glassine
envelopes sold for photographic use these days are lignin- and
acid-free, like other archival paper envelopes. However, I didn't
confirm this with a glassine manufacturer. Did you?
Received on Mon Feb 13 11:29:51 2006