Re: [ARSCLIST] broken glass records--a possible approach to repair

["Watsky, Lance" <lwatsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Shiffy, 

Thank you for for your kind response. I know that Chicago Albumen Works perfected a procedure for removing photographic emulsion from deteriorated acetate negatives. I haven't heard about transferring emulsion from prints, I would be very interested in learning more about this. There is a company based in Germany that can actually split paper in half and then reaffix the deteriorated paper to a new backing.

Prior to creating my Master's program in the Preservation and Restoration of Motion Pictures and Recorded Sound, California State university, Chico, 1995, I worked for several years as an Art Conservator Assistant, where I gained experience in some of the skills for removing pigment from canvas. 

Hopefully by talking about glass, the list was going to ultimately be able to get into to a discussion about ways to get recorded information off of broken shellac or broken glass records. If we utilize adhesive tape to hold the pieces of the broken record together then we are not making the disc stronger and the adhesives can in fact have some terrible effects. 

While talking to my Glass Blower friend, I was hoping to find out about the "adhesive" quality of hot glass and whether or not the different pieces of the broken glass recording could be held together by a thin bead of "hot" glass. The next logical question would be, if the record needle would glide over the new glass. The points where there is no audio (new glass) could then be removed in a digital workstation. 

Lance Watsky
Preservation & Media Specialist
The Georgia Archives
5800 Jonesboro Road
Morrow, GA 30260
678-364-3764 (phone)
678-364-3860 (fax)
lwatsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.GeorgiaArchives.org




-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Art Shifrin
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 11:45 AM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ARSCLIST] broken glass records--a possible approach to repair


Lance, that's a superb question.

A brilliant chemist / inventor has developed a procedure in which a
photographic emulsion can be non destructively removed from its original old
paper and transferred to new material. I've seen samples of this terrific
achievement at the Photography Department of the Musuem Of Art here in NYC.
I can't recall the name of the vendor who developed the method, but
certainly the curators there know.

Even for disks that have broken into pieces, this might have important
potential for retrieving sound from such broken & damaged media.

Best,
Shiffy