I’m looking for advice on conserving 100-year-old Cirkut negatives. These are from a local private collection of negatives made by Harold Wagner in Marietta, Ohio. I’ve had the pleasure of printing a few negatives from this collection on Ilford FB for the owner already. However, these two are incredibly delicate and crumbling at the edges. They’re even being held together with scotch tape in a few spots. They have also been stored rolled (in paper towel tubes, no less) and have a strong curl. I’ve very carefully unrolled them and backed them with acid-free paper in my printing frame in attempt to flatten them. My hope is to make some enclosures for them out of archival mat board or acid free paper so they can be stored flat.
As for printing, I’d like to minimize their handling, so I’m considering duplicating the orignal negatives via an interpositive, which I would make with either some of the Agfa Aviphot or HP5 I have on hand. I’d welcome any tips/advice on this approach, as I haven’t had need to duplicate negatives until now, let alone ones that are 8x32 and 8x24.
I develop my own Cirkut negatives, so I’m not worried about the development workflow itself. Rather, I’m looking for advice on exposure, development to ensure good contrast for silver-gelatin printing from the original, to the interpostive, to the final duplicate.
As for printing, I’d like to minimize their handling, so I’m considering duplicating the orignal negatives via an interpositive, which I would make with either some of the Agfa Aviphot or HP5 I have on hand. I’d welcome any tips/advice on this approach, as I haven’t had need to duplicate negatives until now, let alone ones that are 8x32 and 8x24.
I develop my own Cirkut negatives, so I’m not worried about the development workflow itself. Rather, I’m looking for advice on exposure, development to ensure good contrast for silver-gelatin printing from the original, to the interpostive, to the final duplicate.
