Re: reticulation advice

From: Robert Schaller (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Feb 17 2008 - 15:39:37 PST


Generally, you want to soften and then stress the gelatin. High pH and high
temperatures will do this. Cold temperatures and low pH harden it. The
general approach here is to abuse the gelatin until it cracks.

Try using a solution of Sodium Carbonate, available in most US supermarkets
as "Washing Soda" -- maybe 1 cup per gallon? It will be pH of something
like 11. Make it warm, or even hot. Soak the film in it for a few minutes,
then plunge it into ice water, maybe with vinegar in it to lower the pH.
Repeat. Who knows? A friend of mine told me a story of talking to a
retired Kodak engineer about how he had managed to get reticulation, to
which the former Kodak person responded "You @#$#@! We worked for years to
keep that from happening!" Maybe it's apocryphal, but it gets the point
across: modern emulsions are designed NOT to reticulate, so you're working
against the grain.

Reticulation is an inherently unpredictable thing to do. My advice is to
keep careful notes, so that if you get any results at all, you'll know what
you did. I'm hardly an expert on reticulation; what has worked for anyone
else that they'd be willing to share?

-- 
Robert Schaller
www.robertschaller.org
www.handmadefilm.org
On 2/16/08 5:34 PM, "Zach Iannazzi" <email suppressed> wrote:
> I was wondering if anyone had any tips for achieving good
> reticulation patterns. I have tried several approaches, but don't
> seem to be getting the results I was hoping for. I know that newer
> film stocks are much harder to reticulate, but I was hoping maybe
> someone here could steer me in the right direction.
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Zach Iannazzi
> 
> 
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.