Unsticking 30 year old color prints

I've done some research and haven't come across anything that isn't short of dangerous for separating stuck together prints (likely from being exposed to (contaminated) water). Primarily back-to-back stuck so a matte paper back. These are circa early 90's prints that came from a regular print processor. The photographs are quite literally sandwiched together and any effort to (slowly, meticulously) peel them apart will ruin them.

The proposed solutions via a quick Google search have not been useful including soaking in distilled water for up to an hour (didn't work). I left a few photographs in distilled water overnight and the photographs "disappeared". Using a blow dryer was another proposal (haven't tried this yet but seems...unlikely)

It occurs to me there must be a fairly safe 'solvent' that could separate photographs. It's paper sticking to paper- The front of the photographs are high gloss and it occurs to me may have a coating on them that could resist another solvent that *would* work in separating the paper backs from each other. Naturally this is all speculation..

I've thought of the following (potential) solutions such as baking soda and water + perhaps an dilute acid (vinegar/citric acid etc). maybe hydrogen peroxide. Also thought of diluting Goo Gone and soaking a few photographs. I'm sure some or all of these will damage a photograph in one way or another but I'd rather damage/ruin one or two and save 100 if possible.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
fo

If the prints are unique and are the only source of the image, you should probably make high quality copies (digital or film) before attempting to separate.

If these are not RC paper, but are fiber based, you may be out of luck. The paper fibers may have interlocked with each other and basically fused together unevenly and mechanical separation will result in destruction of the emulsion of the prints.

You might have better luck speaking to a paper conservator. They might have a better idea of what can and cannot be done to separate these photos.

Good luck.

They may have actually been glued together.
I've seen people do some of the strangest things with prints.

fotoobscura said:

Thoughts?

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I don't have any good answers, but I think what I'd do is to trim off some narrow strips from the edge (where there's unimportant content), say 1/8 or 1/4 inch wide, to use for experimentation. This gives you a lot of samples without significantly hurting your collection. Next thing I'd do is use a strong magnifier to see what's happening when you try to separate. A stereo zoom microscope (10 or 20X power) with long working distance (say an inch or two) would be ideal. Or if you could rig up a magnifier, even a camera lens, on some sort of a stand, just to free up your hands. Then try things like the point of a toothpick to separate the paper. Hopefully you'll gain some understanding of how they're stuck together.

fotoobscura said:

The front of the photographs are high gloss and it occurs to me may have a coating on them that could resist another solvent...

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No, conventional color prints don't have any special protective coating on them that would work this way.

I don't know for sure what's on the back side of color paper, but if it's a gelatin layer then heat might help them come apart. As I recall the dryer temperature spec for RA4 paper is something in the order of about 180 to 190 degrees F so you might want to try a little beyond this. Need a source of gentle heat? The air immediately above an electric toaster ought to do the trick. Don't burn your fingers. Maybe you wanna use a needle nose pliers to hold a tiny test strip, then see if a toothpick will pop them apart.

Best of luck with em.

Most color paper has been RC for quite a long time, not that it matters very much, but it may help.
I would try a soak in RA-4 stabilizer, you will probably need to give them an initial soak followed by repeated rounds of pulling and and more soaking. If they are stuck because of dampness or exposure to water, that should work. Though, not so much if they are stuck because of heat or something else.
If they've been soaked in water, you'll need the stabilizer anyway.

MattKing said:

They may have actually been glued together.
I've seen people do some of the strangest things with prints.

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Gluing two prints back to back is a standard way of making non-curling prints. The print on the backside is a normally processed print on the same paper but was a test print or a failure. In a hundred years people will prefer the backside print and will complain bitterly how they can't get 'that awful bit of kitsch' off their preferred side.

I agree that the best thing is to scan the prints and then make two new non-siamesed prints.

I was asked to create a slide show of my cousin's mother and father in the 1940s during the war before they got married when he was a soldier to be played off a DVD from BW photo prints in their album. The photos were underneath plastic page protectors. The photos were stuck to the plastic and were ripping when I tried to free them from the plastic to scan. So I just scanned the pages trying to not get the reflections from the plastic. I cropped and edited the pictures afterward actually making them look better than the originals, adding contrast and eliminating crease and other marks using the scanner's ICE function. So it worked out in the end. My cousin was delighted. It looked great playing the video slide show on a 75" TV with Big Band music from the 1940s like Benny Goodman and Count Basie. No one noticed or cared about the defects that remained. They were thrilled. Good luck.

the image is formed in Gelatin. that can make a very good glue. have a chat with a musium conservator.