question about labeling negatives

okay so I was going through a stack of 7x17 negatives last night looking for a negative to do some gum over layers.
An idea occured to me, does anyone know a pen or marker that can be use to write on the negative rebate/base that would be readable but would be completely clear when contact printing, especially UV contact printing? Also, something that wouldnt damage the negative, although I cant see this happening much since it would be mainly on the base area.

I usually just write on the plastic 11x17 sleeves I normally buy but have begun in the last few months storing my negatives in empty film boxes to help organize them. It would be nice to be able to easily look at the bottom rebate area and know the shot, locale, even some notes on exposure date and details.

I've marked neg edges before using a black sharpie marker. I don't know if they will print completely clear or not, though. Nor do I know if sharpie has any archival qualities or not -- I tend to doubt it. In general I prefer marking up the sleeve.

I use a Rapidograph technical pen with India ink to mark negative edges because it reproduces very well when the negatives are contact-printed.

The beauty of Rapidograph pens is that you can load them with whatever ink you want to use. They are also available in a wide range of nib sizes, including some incredibly fine nibs if your want to write your life history on the film rebate.

Where that leads me is to wonder about using some kind of transparent dye instead of an opaque ink. I use Dr. Martin's water color dyes to 'dyedodge negatives - magenta seems to work best because it emulates a higher-contrast printing filter, but I also keep a bottle of yellow on hand for situations where I need a lower-contrast dodge. I wonder about using a bluish dye in a Rapidograph pen to mark negatives. Haven't tried it, but I'm inclined to think that the blue color would be nearly transparent in UV contact printing.

Monophoto said:

I use a Rapidograph technical pen with India ink to mark negative edges because it reproduces very well when the negatives are contact-printed.

The beauty of Rapidograph pens is that you can load them with whatever ink you want to use. They are also available in a wide range of nib sizes, including some incredibly fine nibs if your want to write your life history on the film rebate......

Click to expand...

I agree with Monophoto on this. In the past I've used Sharpie fine point, but even the fine point was very wide, and the Sharpie ink wasn't heavy enough to prevent light bleed through during contact printing. I now use a technical pen and India ink.

pens

Light Impressions sells special marking pens for your negatives. they have a very fine point but will print through when printing.
Best, Peter

scootermm said:

okay so I was going through a stack of 7x17 negatives last night looking for a negative to do some gum over layers.
An idea occured to me, does anyone know a pen or marker that can be use to write on the negative rebate/base that would be readable but would be completely clear when contact printing, especially UV contact printing?

Click to expand...

Matt,
Are you looking for something that will show up on the edge of the negative but not on the print when you contact print the negs?

Something that will pass most of the UV Light

Stay away from the reds and yellow inks, as the are more likely to absorb the UV and show up in the print -- perhaps a light blue ink loaded in one of those Rapidiograph pens someone mentioned above. Go for the minimum darkness that you can actually read on the rebate area.

It does not have to be too light -- if you give enough exposure to turn the rebate area a solid black, then it probably won't show up.

This would not work well with my carbon prints -- the rebate area would be all the same black, but the lettering would show up as a change in the relief (it would look like the lettering was embossed into the rebate.)

Vaughn

yes diane.
what I am looking for could very understandably not even exist. More along the lines of something that would be visible to me when I looked at the negative, but would be completely transparent to UV light.