Collodion cock-up

Whilst mixing old work horse, I forgot to add the alcohol to beaker A which contained the salts dissolved in water. I added the solution in beaker A to beaker B which contained USP and ether. So I then added the alcohol at the end. Will this work? To my way of thinking, the salts were already dissolved so the alcohol serves to dilute the collodion, so it’s ok? Or do the salts need the alcohol to properly dissolve? On another note, how do you clean tall thin measuring glass after having used it with collodion? Ether seems the best bet but it didn’t fully clean the gunge at the bottom.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mark Kononczuk

Whilst mixing old work horse, I forgot to add the alcohol to beaker A which contained the salts dissolved in water. I added the solution in beaker A to beaker B which contained USP and ether. So I then added the alcohol at the end. Will this work? To my way of thinking, the salts were already dissolved so the alcohol serves to dilute the collodion, so it’s ok? Or do the salts need the alcohol to properly dissolve? On another note, how do you clean tall thin measuring glass after having used it with collodion? Ether seems the best bet but it didn’t fully clean the gunge at the bottom.

---

I'd agree - the salts should already have been dissolved in the little bit of water, so I don't think it'll matter too much if you added the alcohol later. Definitely post back and let us know how it went!

I use a rinse bottle with alcohol to clean out anything I've had collodion in.

I am living in the US now so just buy my collodion premade, but when I was making my own, I'd mix the ether 1:1 with alcohol as soon as I got it to help stabilize it for storage.

Initially, the collodion with alcohol added later did not want to mix/dissolve. So I made a second batch, mixed properly. Now that a week has passed they have evened out and look similar, so probably will be ok. The proof will be in the pudding when I start taking pictures.