[Darkroom] Hello and looking for liquid bromine

Christian Rice clrice at gmail.com
Thu Jun 30 03:32:54 UTC 2011


This is sounding promising.  What can I do to help?  I'd be happy to bring my daguerreotype skills into the fray.

The chemical companies will definitely sell to educational entities, but they're looking for a chemistry lab component--they're more used to dealing w/ college purchasing departments.  Might I suggest it's worth putting a very strong foot forward when talking to them, a la a plan?  A rejection can equal blacklisting. 

Intelligent persistence will get us all what we want.  Say, Ben, you being in possession of some bromine, are you a chemistry wiz like Jasmine?  I do like your science demo idea a lot.

--christian

On Jun 29, 2011, at 18:33, Ben Rupert <meowdip at gmail.com> wrote:

> I do have a few ML of bromine I can bring to noisebridge.  It might take
> me a few days to get it there though.  Maybe even early next week.
> Also, Kelly, I think we should be able to get the major chemical
> supply houses to sell to us.  They don't sell to individuals, but if I
> call up and tell them that we're an educational non-profit planning a
> bunch of science demos they will probably let us establish an account.
> After that we can order anything that doesn't require a federal license
> (drugs and explosives).  We will have to have some official looking
> payment method, but we can figure that out.
> 
> Ben
> 
> On 06/29/2011 05:43 PM, david pan wrote:
>> duh, ooops.  n00b error.
>> 
>> /Kimberly Austin/ <http://www.kimberlyaustin.net/about.html>
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 5:42 PM, david pan <kaptures at gmail.com
>> <mailto:kaptures at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> 
>>  I really can't recall the photographer I am thinking of.  It might
>>  be Kimberly Austin, she mixes all her own emulsions by hand (for van
>>  dyke, cyanotype, gum bichromate)...  I just don't think it was her
>>  that I had met a few years ago.
>> 
>>  I also thought of the photo center in the east bay, is it Hayward? 
>>  IIRC, they do a lot of teaching there and had previously focused on
>>  film/darkroom & alt-process developing.  I think it is in a
>>  community center or some similar site.
>> 
>>  Well, without wanting to be an imposition here, I will wish you well
>>  on your endeavors.
>> 
>>  Cheers.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 5:11 PM, Kelly <hurtstotouchfire at gmail.com
>>  <mailto:hurtstotouchfire at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> 
>>      Hey Ben, I was actually going to ping you about this anyway.
>> 
>>      Maybe it's not a good way to go for bromine in particular, but any
>>      idea if we can use our non-profit status to get better chem
>>      sources? I
>>      know we've discussed institutional suppliers in the past.
>> 
>>      -Kelly
>> 
>>      On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 07:07, Ben Rupert <meowdip at gmail.com
>>      <mailto:meowdip at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>> I might have some liquid bromine, I'll check and get back to
>>      the list.
>>> Also I didn't watch the video on electrolytic bromine
>>      generation, but I
>>> have a power supply made for electroplating metals which
>>      should work for
>>> oxidizing Br- to Br2.
>>> 
>>> Ben
>>> 
>>> On 06/29/2011 02:03 AM, david pan wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>> 
>>>> I have no experience with these things myself.  I tend to
>>      work with
>>>> safer, more 'boring' soup ingredients (wine, coffee, tea,
>>      etc) as my
>>>> film developers.
>>>> 
>>>> You may want to try asking in the photo department at CCSF.
>>       They have
>>>> some very capable faculty.  I also seem to remember a
>>      professional
>>>> photographer in the east bay who did a lot of Van  Dyke brown and
>>>> cyanotype and other homemade process photography.  I can't
>>      remember, I'd
>>>> only met her once or twice.  I think she lives in Orinda or
>>      Berkeley for
>>>> some reason. I don't recall if she did dagguerotype too.  If
>>      I can find
>>>> her name, I'll let you know.
>>>> 
>>>> Dunno if this helps at all.  Cheers.
>>>> 
>>>> David
>>>> 
>>>> --------------------------------------------
>>>> 
>>>> On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 1:47 AM, Christian Rice
>>      <clrice at gmail.com <mailto:clrice at gmail.com>
>>>> <mailto:clrice at gmail.com <mailto:clrice at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>  Another aspect of this procedure that seems like it
>>      wouldn't work
>>>>  for me is I don't want bromine water--I want to drip some
>>      liquid
>>>>  bromine onto a bed of silica gel crystals.  The moisture from
>>>>  bromine water is not good for my fuming process.
>>>> 
>>>>  I think distillation might be the answer to that (as if
>>      I'd know);
>>>>  but it's a lot easier to talk about than for me to
>>      accomplish.
>>>>  Isolating bromine is not something one wants to mess up
>>      with...
>>>> 
>>>>  You seem to be confident with chemistry...where does that
>>      come from,
>>>>  if I may ask?
>>>> 
>>>>  Ok, I'm going cross eyed, thanks for the late night
>>      responses, I'll
>>>>  continue research when the sun rises.
>>>> 
>>>>  --christian
>>>> 
>>>>  On Jun 29, 2011, at 1:25, Jasmine Strong
>>      <jasmine at electronpusher.org <mailto:jasmine at electronpusher.org>
>>>>  <mailto:jasmine at electronpusher.org
>>      <mailto:jasmine at electronpusher.org>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> ... yeah, he should have used chlorine bleach in place
>>      of hydrogen
>>>>  peroxide.  It would have worked then.
>>>>> 
>>>>> -J.
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 29 Jun 2011, at 01:20, Christian Rice wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hmm, I watched that video, the procedure fails to
>>      isolate bromine...
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Back to the drawing board for me...
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> --christian
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Jun 29, 2011, at 0:48, Jasmine Strong
>>>>  <jasmine at electronpusher.org
>>      <mailto:jasmine at electronpusher.org>
>>      <mailto:jasmine at electronpusher.org
>>      <mailto:jasmine at electronpusher.org>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On 29 Jun 2011, at 00:43, Jasmine Strong wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On 29 Jun 2011, at 00:39, Christian Rice wrote:
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Hi there.  I'm working with the mercury
>>      daguerreotype process
>>>>  and I'm in need of some Br2, the purer, the better,
>>> 99.x%.  Water
>>>>  sanitizing stuff (pool/spa tablets and powders) won't do.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> You can make some by electrolyzing bromine solution
>>      sold for
>>>>  pool/spa use.  In the quantities you need it's certainly
>>      not worth
>>>>  the expense of going through the hazmat training you'd
>>      need to have
>>>>  a commercial vendor sell you the stuff.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9zB6_-vzSM
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Here's a process for extracting the stuff.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> -J.
>>>>> 
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