Spots/marks on negatives. Please help!!

Hello folks,

Recently I took out a few strips of negatives that I had carelessly stored with a bunch of photos.

Stupid? I fully agree.

Now the thing is, some of these negatives have 'stuck' to the sleeves and when I take them out, there are some marks on the negatives.

On a dud shot, I tried to wipe away the mark with some mineral water and the mark is now gone but negative itself has some micro scratches.

Is it okay to wash with water (this time with a clean cloth, carefully)?

Almost forgot, these marks are on the emulsion side.

Tried to search for similar thread but seems like people get spots only during dev.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Cheers,
Som

(Changed title)

Hello again,

Any suggestions?

Cheers,
Som

Don't attempt to remove any more negatives from what they're stuck to - put both negatives AND sleeves into a cold tap water bath (or distilled if you feel REALLY guilty) and let them separate naturally. This is if you have any more 'stuck' ones... with the ones that you already separated (that are scratched) - let them soak in the bath too for a while. Add a little photo flo and agitate (very gently) - the ones that were stuck, you should wipe down with a chamois of some kind (or a piece of chamois) - cotton is probably too rough. Gently try to wipe the emulsion of the damaged strips and let sit for another minute or so. By this time the photo flo will have worked into the film somewhat and you can remove the film, carefully sponge a little to remove excess water and hang to dry however you can without further damage.

You won't be able to recover the damage already caused but you can try using a little edwal no-scratch or equivalent when printing (only then)... good luck