Warning! n-amyl acetate is the only safe solvent to use with collodion.
Ether/alcohol mixtures are very dangerous, if any ether peroxidation has
occured, the sample will explode upon drying.

At the start of this century, many photographers were killed by making
photographic emulsions in this way.

Best regards,

            Ed ([log in to unmask])



Mario M. Moronne wrote:

>Mark,
>
>Collodion is a form of cellulose nitrate that is soluble in ether/methanol
>or acetone. It is not nitrated to the degree that "smokeless powder" is,
>which is used for munitions. It is still very flammable. Parllodion is a 2%
>solution. Various chemical houses and EM suppliers carry it. There is some
>distinction made between "flexible" collodion and, I guess, non-flexible,
>which you may wish to consider regarding its use for embedding.
>
>Mario M. Moronne, Ph.D.
>Dept. of Subcellular Structure M/S 6-2100
>Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
>1 Cyclotron Rd.
>Berkeley, CA
>94720



-----------------------------------------------------
Dr. Beat Ludin, FMI, Maulbeerstr 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
Tel. +41 61 697 6697 / FAX +41 61 697 3976