RE: Brush for Liquid Emulsion

Judy,

I used to use household paint brushes for SG emulsion, and they were fine
for a time but did rust eventually. Maybe no-one else is stupid enough to
do that?

Liam

-----Original Message-----
From: Judy Seigel [mailto:jseigel@panix.com]
Sent: 16 February 2005 02:47
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
Subject: RE: Brush for Liquid Emulsion

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005, Liam Lawless wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Sorry to disagree, Judy, but if you're using a cheap brush with metal
> ferrule, it will rust in time - from washing afterwards if not actually

But a cheap brush could do that in ANY medium, if it feels like it (tho
I've never seen it happen).... My understanding of the question was that
it pertained to using the brush with silver gelatin emulsion.

> through reaction with coating chemistry, contaminating the bristles. And
> even if it's varnished, there'll still be exposed metal on the inside of
the
> ferrule. But it shouldn't matter if it's of a non-rusting metal that
> doesn't react with your chemistry, e.g. aluminium for silver-gelatine.

Cheap AND expensive brushes, in my experience, (especially the broad flat
ones), loosen up on the ferrule when they (and you of course) get old
enough. My surmise is that it's from the wood shrinking with age. Then
the brush part loosens and drops off... so you stick some acrylic medium
or gel or glue or silicon seal or whatever in the ferrule, jam the brush
back on the wood, and let it dry (for several days maybe since there's not
much air circulation). But I've never ever seen rust arrive that way...
maybe in England?

Judy
Received on Tue Feb 15 21:10:46 2005