Wet 35 mm slides

[wonfuji]

Our house was leveled by fire last week but the firecrews rescued a lot of boxes of 35mm slide (in those cool slide cubes). Is there a preferred way to dry them? A lot of them took on water from the attempts to save the house.

[Cassidy]

Without knowing their condition, maybe rinse off and hang to dry, separately

[Kraellin]

wonfuji, welcome to RP. i wish your coming here was due to better circumstances.

the following are suggestions NOT based on real experience with slides, so, take them with a LARGE grain of salt. consulting with a conservator on this would be wise.

since the slides are already wet, or have been wet, i think cassidy's method would work. you'll want to remove each slide from the cube and check it. a rinse in room temperature water shldnt hurt further. the only thing extra i might try would be to lay each slide out on blotting paper or some other absorbent surface and then turn them occasionally to dry them evenly.

i would think there is some risk of the pressed paper holding the slides to warp, bend or separate, especially if they've been wet for a while. so, you might also try putting them on an absorbent surface and then placing another absorbent material over them with a weight over the whole. since warping would tend to come from one side drying faster than the other, i would think this might be the safer method.

but again, consult with a conservator if in doubt. you might also test one or two lesser valued slides and see how it goes before doing a mass handling.

[mistermonday]

Wonfuji,
I second Craigs recommendation about checking with a conservator, but I will add a comment from experience. Photo processors often use a solution of Isopropyl Alcohol (must be >90%; do not use Rubbing Alcohol which is only 70%). You should find very readily 99% bottles in your pharmacy. Normally used, Isopropyl will clean dust and organic material off the film. It dries almost immediately and leaves no stain or residue on the film surface. It does not damage the emulsion. I have never used the solution on film that was already wet, however, I would expect that it would remove the water and at the same time it should dissinfect the slides and the holders in the event that the water used was contaminated or exposed to a mouldy environment.
If your holders are the conventional cardboard, they will likely separate or warp as Craig points out. You may want to consider buying plastic holders to replace the cardboard. Good luck.
Regards, Murray

[Jerryb]

hi,
now I am just a novice in things.. but I would think using distilled water with a few drops of photoflo would be a nice combination to use on those slides that got water on them...
1. the distilled water would hopefully desolve any contaminents/water spots on the slides
2. and the photoflo would help prevent water spots forming during the drying process...

now a question I have... since were talking wter damage.. would pec-12 be could to help prevent mold and mildew, fungus from developing?

maybe some some one comment on my thoughts....

Originally Posted by wonfuji

Our house was leveled by fire last week but the firecrews rescued a lot of boxes of 35mm slide (in those cool slide cubes). Is there a preferred way to dry them? A lot of them took on water from the attempts to save the house.

[Mike]

I had some slides come into my studio several years ago with exactly that problem.

We did this: Kept them wet till we were ready to dry them. Removed the cardboard holders. Washed the slides in running water (about 70 degrees or so). Rinsed the slides in a photoflo solution, then hung the slides up to dry, using a long string and a clothes pin for each slide. Dried them at room temperature. When they were dry we remounted them into plastic holders. Collected the appropiate amount of funds from the owners home insurance company.....

[Kraellin]

thanks, mike. always good to have someone with real experience post up.