Anyone used Hydrogen Peroxide to prevent fungus in carbon printing?

[Max Hao]

I noticed some fungus on tissues I poured. I learned that Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) is good for killing off the fungus, but not sure what it does to gelatin. Is it an overkill if I added a few drops of this stuff in the gelatin?

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Max, you need to get the tissue dry faster. Use a fan to blow air on the tissue to dry it faster. I hang mine up and put fans on it for at least 24 hours. Never needed H2O2. What is your humidity?

[koraks]

Yeah, agree with Jim. Fungus means excess humidity. Under normal indoor conditions in a well-ventilated home, fungus doesn't have time to take hold as tissue dries. If it occurs during long-term storage, the storage location apparently isn't dry enough or the tissue is placed there before it has dried properly. In my house, tissue generally needs about 3 days to get really dry to the touch and about a week to dry all the way through. Dry tissue feels brittle; if it feels supple, it's not entirely dry yet.

[Michael Mutmansky]

I don't have experience making carbon tissue, but Thymol is used in other processes for a similar purpose. I don't believe that it is considered detrimental to the processes it is used in, whereas hydrogen peroxide will mess with the relative speed and contract of some of these processes.

Might want to look into putting a trace amount of Thymol into the goo before you coat the tissue. See if others have done this with success.


---Michael

[Drew Wiley]

Old-style brown Listerine is thymol. A small amt of that should work.

[Andrew O'Neill]

It must be quite humid where you are. I do my carbon work in the winter as the temperatures are better and it's much drier. Do as Jim suggested. Get your tissues to dry faster with a fan.

[Max Hao]

Many thanks for all the responses. Great carbon printers' community here. My home is generally pretty dry but maybe it's because the snow these couple of days. It took 4 days for the tissue to get dry enough. A follow up question would be, how do you place the tissues to get dry? If you put it vertical the top part might slide a little. I just place them flat on a shelf.

[Vaughn]

Once the gelatin has set (5 min in a cold room) I tack the tissues onto cardboard and stand them up verticallly. No movement of the gelatin. I then put a fan on the tissues for the first 12 hours (I pour thick tissues) and completely dry within 48 hours. This is at ~60% Rh.

Without the fan, I get mold.

[Max Hao]

I don't have experience making carbon tissue, but Thymol is used in other processes for a similar purpose. I don't believe that it is considered detrimental to the processes it is used in, whereas hydrogen peroxide will mess with the relative speed and contract of some of these processes.

Might want to look into putting a trace amount of Thymol into the goo before you coat the tissue. See if others have done this with success.


---Michael

Thanks Michael. I remembered somewhere thymol was mentioned as antifungus stuff. I'll give it a try if I can't get the tissues dry quick enough.
Cheers,
Max

[Max Hao]

Once the gelatin has set (5 min in a cold room) I tack the tissues onto cardboard and stand them up verticallly. No movement of the gelatin. I then put a fan on the tissues for the first 12 hours (I pour thick tissues) and completely dry within 48 hours. This is at ~60% Rh.

Without the fan, I get mold.

Thanks Vaughn. I just finished pouring a batch this morning Will try out vertical.
Cheers,
Max