Cat pee negatives

[Chuck_P]

The lack of sleeves may have been helpful, in fact. At least, the gelatin hasn't fused and/or ferrotyped against the sleeves. Such damage is often irreversible.

I also see these are B&W negatives, which means they're inherently a lot more resilient than color negatives.

That's good to hear, the prognosis is improving. I should've been more thorough in my OP and stated b&w negatives but didn't get the pics til later.

 

[Don_ih]

For some reason, I assumed they were b&w negatives.

If they'd been in sleeves, it would've been a completely different problem - and one that likely couldn't be solved very well.

 

[Chuck_P]

The moral of the story, put the negatives in sleeves, keep the cat away. Cats........I've never been a fan of cats.

 

[MattKing]

The moral of the story, put the negatives in sleeves, keep the cat away. Cats........I've never been a fan of cats.

Moderator's note: no religious discussions please!
{Emphasis cheekily added by me}

 

[Sirius Glass]

I am confused. Was it an accident or was the cat making a judgement about the composition?

 

[Chuck_P]

I am confused. Was it an accident or was the cat making a judgement about the composition?

Venturing out on a limb, I'll suppose that when a cat takes a piss anywhere, it was no accident. It could've been both, lol.

 

[Xylo]

I know I always remove strong smells with a mix of equal part dish soap, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. The stuff even works on skunk smell, so that's saying a word about how good it is.

But for negatives, my best bet is to use film cleaner.
I still have a bottle of very old Kodak film cleaner that contains Heptane, Trichloro and Trifluorethane. I use it only outdoors and wearing rubber gloves as that stuff can't possibly be good for you, but it works very well.

You might try and check Photo Formulary. On their site they still have some film cleaner.

 

[Don_ih]

It's piss. It's water soluble.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I doubt alcohols would help, except intheir limited capacity as surfactants, as urine is water based and should be water soluble. I'd certainly add photo flo to the water.
A weak bath of acetic acid might be worth a try as it is decent at fighting odours in general household use.

I wouldn't be surprised if some direct sulphide toning happened in the urinated areas. After WWII, when photographic supplies were hard to come by, a recommended alternative to polysulphide toning was a bath of urine to increase longevity(true story).

 

[ags2mikon]

So Ralph, if the negatives are unevenly toned would it help if another cat is brought in to finish the job?

 

[Chuck_P]

I wouldn't be surprised if some direct sulphide toning happened in the urinated areas. After WWII, when photographic supplies were hard to come by, a recommended alternative to polysulphide toning was a bath of urine to increase longevity(true story).

That is some high strangeness, Ralph.....amazing.

 

[MattKing]

I'm assuming that uric acid has properties that can be applied to the toning process.
And I'm intentionally ignoring to ask if

a recommended alternative to polysulphide toning was a bath of urine to increase longevity

refers to the prints, rather than the photographer?

 

[koraks]

a recommended alternative to polysulphide toning was a bath of urine to increase longevity(true story).

I always wondered about this - the feasibility of sulfur toning using urine. I never tried it. Perhaps I should? I doubt it'll do all that much. There's a small amount of urea in urine, but as a direct toner, it's virtually inactive.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

So Ralph, if the negatives are unevenly toned would it help if another cat is brought in to finish the job?

or if you want it done right...

 

[Don_ih]

After WWII, when photographic supplies were hard to come by, a recommended alternative to polysulphide toning was a bath of urine to increase longevity(true story).

Are you sure it wasn't horse urine?

 

[grain elevator]

Ah, the uric acid would just aid in the emulsion hardening.

Ah indeed, urine was historically used in leather tanning I believe. Does it do anything by itself or does it need to be combined with tannins or some such, does anyone know?

 

[Don_ih]

Ah indeed, urine was historically used in leather tanning I believe. Does it do anything by itself or does it need to be combined with tannins or some such, does anyone know?

I think it was concentrated. Not something I'd want to do. But all kinds of wonderful things have been done in the past.

 

[Kino]

So Ralph, if the negatives are unevenly toned would it help if another cat is brought in to finish the job?

A new twist on split-toning...

I would just try multiple washes in distilled water to start with and see where that goes.

 

[pentaxuser]

. The cat pee is old and dried on the negatives.

OK but more importantly: How's the cat?

pentaxuser

 

[pentaxuser]

Maybe Kodak/PhotoSys should start packaging a cat along with each bag of Kodafix. The cat can then be squeezed out into the fixer if a hardening fixer is required.

Good one

pentaxuser

 

[Donald Qualls]

Another odor removing product to look for is Odoban. My partner swears by it in a house with five cats (plus an outdoor one who likes to sneak in and pee outside the litter box) and nine dogs plus variable numbers of puppies...

 

[mshchem]

I always wondered about this - the feasibility of sulfur toning using urine. I never tried it. Perhaps I should? I doubt it'll do all that much. There's a small amount of urea in urine, but as a direct toner, it's virtually inactive.

Man, I can honestly say that I've never considered piss for toner. Apparently in the dark ages urine was collected (poor people didn't have a pot to piss in) and sold for tanning hides.

 

[koraks]

Apparently in the dark ages urine was collected (poor people didn't have a pot to piss in) and sold for tanning hides.

A little further back in time, it was commonly used as a laundry detergent for Roman togas.

 

[Don_ih]

Well, that's all just a testament to how resourceful humans used to be. We found a use for everything. Now we find a single use for practically anything and then discard it. Currently, our largest monuments are garbage dumps.

And now the takeaway from this entire thread is the best way to get the cat urine out is probably to pee on the negatives.

 

[Truzi]

I think we've been down this road a few times before:

Developing in Urine

I am guessing the subject line caught everyone's eye. My wife was at a film archives conference recently in NYC and one of the books she brought back was a collection of reproductions from newsletters published by what you might call "alternative" filmmakers (motion picture). One of these...

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