Glassine envelopes - better or worse than nothing?

I like the feel of glassine and its easier to get neg out,but Iv'e had some of them get wet or asborb some moister causing the emulation to stick to the glassine,so switched to the plastic type. Dust seems to accumulate to them but not the glassine.

mike c.

pgomena said:

All our negatives at the Oregon Historical Society are
resleeved in simple archival paper negative sleeves.
Write any info on the sleeve in pencil. The source
is Metal Edge.

http://www.metaledgeinc.com/ Peter Gomena

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"... in simple archival paper ... sleeves" Well I've negatives
very near 50 years in accordioned glassine sleeves, those
within Adox paper envelopes. No special storage at all.
All are as they were many many years ago.

I wouldn't put much stock by the pointed to link and it's
report of glassine's composition. They are making it
look bad by it's make up rather than any real
world long term tests.

This thread has many testimonials referring to actual use.
Those testimonials attest to glassine's quality as a long
term negative storage medium. I've yet to see a 50
year endorsement of any other storage medium.

At Google enter, Savage Glassine . Many
sources. Dan

I use various types of storage mediums, for film and prints, and have yet to find fault with the glassine type. They seem to age in terms of color change - they get more yellow with age - but if kept dry they present no problems after decades have past. Also, they don't seem to attract dust like other types. The brand I've been using (not advertised as archival) is Savage Universal Corporation. The seams (folds) are on the outside, they don't touch the surface of the material stored in them. I'll keep using them because they passed the test of time.

I've negs from the 70s in glassine and some of them have what look to be ferrotyping on them from the glassine. It looks like a glossy coating on the neg. Perhaps is was some of the wax transferring to the neg from the surface of the glassine.

I use polypropylene or mylar sheets and sleeves.

Kirk Keyes said:

I've negs from the 70s in glassine and some of them have what look to be ferrotyping on them from the glassine. It looks like a glossy coating on the neg. Perhaps is was some of the wax transferring to the neg from the surface of the glassine.

I use polypropylene or mylar sheets and sleeves.

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If you store them loosely, without pressure on the emulsion, you shouldn't have that problem. I've had problems with polypropylene sleeves where moisture (humidity) got trapped inside the sleeves causing them to stick to the negatives, but only on the gelatin side of the film because of the way roll film curves - not a big problem. It doesn't hurt the emulsion side but they become difficult to remove from the sleeves and in the process of removing them I've damaged a few, which can be frustrating.

With the glassines, I found the "ferrotyping" showed in prints. That was enough to steer me away from them.

Kirk, I'm sure you know what you see. I'm just curious, though. Were you using the Savage glassines that seem to pose no problems for others? I've actually switched to the mylar type myself.

Paul

Paul - it's been a long time since I've looked at those negs and I have no idea what brand they were. If I run across them I'll post it.