29 Sep 2003, 17:18, JIM HOLSONBACK (1:123/140), wrote to ALL:

Hi JIM.

 JH> I have some construction photos which I took to a jobsite and 
 JH> left out for the crews to look at them.  Rain came up, and most got 
 JH> wet.  I grabbed them up and put them back in the car,  stacked.  Now 
 JH> they have dried, and are sticking together.  The white backs of the 
 JH> photos seem to stick to the image side, and trying to gently pull them 
 JH> apart tears off part of the white backside, which remains stuck to the 
 JH> image side.

 JH> These are the "1-Hour prints".

 JH> Q:  Can I throw them down into some water, soak them apart, and 
 JH> then let them dry separately and not damage the image side?

That's _exactly_ how it's done in the original photoprocessing.  Be sure to
let them get wet enough to _slide_ apart, do NOT pull on them, as the gel
coating will separate.

Lay the whole bunch in a large tray or pan (cookie pan?), with a pencil
under it near the center.  Every few minutes, rock the pan on the pencil a
few times.  Slide the prints from the top and the bottom of the pile as
they loosen.

They are normally dried on a large heated drum, not too much unlike the
flat side of a common toaster, and strange as it may sound, glossy gel side
goes against the hot metal, paper backing side faces the air.  The idea is
to drive the water out _through_ the paper rather than through the gel. 
Any method that will prevent or reduce 'curling' will work.  If allowed to
"dry on their own", the gel will dry first and shrink, causing
the print to roll up like a cigar.  Attempting to unroll a print like that
will cause the gel to crack and flake off, but they can be re-wet and done
over.

If they are B&W, you should get 100%.  Color prints sometimes do
strange things when they get wet, like bleach out, or have all the colors
run.


     Good luck...  M.

--- Msged/386 TE 06 (pre)