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Author Topic: Film Gloves - Latex or Cloth Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-08-2005 03:02 PM                     Okey, I'm going to open a topic (and if there is already a thread on this, please re-direct and close this one) on film handling gloves. Does one uses the cloth, or does one uses the latex gloves when assembling prints? I remember of Brad's recommendation of using the latex due to the lint that cloth can leave on splice tape edges when sealing down the tape across the film. I use neither, for I can't produce a good splice with gloves on. Thus I keep my hands washed to reduce the skin oils and handle the film by the edge. Just curious on this area. thx-Monte  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 07-08-2005 03:18 PM                     I've used cotton gloves for over 30 years. I always wash new gloves before use. This helps to get rid of most of the lint issues for me. I used to edit 16mm negatives for a friend of mine in Nashville, TN. There was never an issue of white specks in the finished prints. When I finish an editing session, I will toss the gloves into a plastic bag. I wash them, and use them again, and again, until they get holes in them.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-08-2005 03:53 PM                     For the record, I've never recommended using latex gloves. I would think that would be quite difficult to inspect with and could scratch the film. I always recommended inspecting bare hands, since you shouldn't be touching anything but the edges of the film anyway. Recently I have forced myself to learn how to inspect with cotton gloves, because the semi-cuts in my fingers got annoying. I figure it was probably about as hard for me to convert as some of the older guys learning how to thread from the bottom up, but just like that, give it a little time and if you have the right attitude, anything can be done. Currently, I would recommend cotton gloves, but mainly for hand damage reasons. I also ALWAYS remove them before splicing.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-08-2005 04:26 PM                     True on that. I remember doing inspections with old acetate prints on a rewind bench and catching a cut sprockethole or a slit section, and with the sharp edge that film will produce when torn........ (..sorry on the misunderstanding. Somewhere then I heard that latex were better than cotton for the lint situation...) As for reverse threading - as you say - basically try it out and work with it. It's not bad to do. The big thing is to develop a system that works with you on new practices and procedures. thx-Monte  |  IP: Logged Adam Wilbert Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 590 From: Bellingham, WA, USA Registered: Mar 2002 posted 07-08-2005 04:27 PM                        A co-worker of mine used to snip the index finger tips off of his cotton gloves so that he could make clean tape splices without having to remove his gloves every time. All of the actual film handling was done with his middle finger and thumb. Seemed to work pretty well. I often wondered if there were some sort of liquid latex that could be painted on the fingertips to prevent this annoying edge cuts. Don't sewing shops sell liquid thimbles?  |  IP: Logged Dan Lyons Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 698 From: Seal Beach, CA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 07-08-2005 04:48 PM                     I've started using cotton gloves when inspecting polyester prints. This started after my fingers got chainsawed by a print of KINSEY that had about 500' of perfs ripped off, leaving the film looking like a steak knife. Blood all over the place. For acetate I still do bare handed, as a glove can catch and tear the film if you hit a cracked sprocket or a notched perf. No gloves for splicer, ever. I don't need a lint ball on screen. Latex gloves have no place in the booth. If exposed to an petrol based chemicals they will disintegrate and tear. Use only vinyl gloves if you'll be working with chemicals by hand.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-08-2005 11:53 PM                     Just try handling a piece of sticky tape while wearing a latex glove! It's not an easy thing to do when the tape sticks to the glove. I vote for cotton gloves. The heavier kind & not those cheap disposable ones. Wash them in fragrance-free detergent and rinse them twice. When they start to get dirty during use, swap hands. When both sides are dirty... wash, rinse & repeat.  |  IP: Logged Dominic Espinosa Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1172 From: California, U.S.A. Registered: Jan 2004 posted 07-09-2005 04:18 AM                     I prefer cotton gloves. Washing before use helps immensely. I havn't actually used gloves though for the most part and don't really have any problem. With the gloves I find it harder to get small cuts or burns from the film. I do however recommend anyone who has clammy hands to use gloves. For the love of all that is Kodak Vision film, use gloves if you're greasy!  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 07-11-2005 08:40 AM                        I agree with Brad on bare hands (between finger and thumb on the film edges) for initial element examinations. When working on archival elements, you're winding so slowly that finger cutting isn't a problem, anyway. However, some of the repairs we find ourselves needing to do (e.g. repairing torn perforations with Permacel or scraping away the residue from dried out cement joins) make fingers on film virtually unavoidable, and in those cases I prefer latex. I've never been able to find a brand of cotton gloves that doesn't leave deposits either on the film itself, or, more likely, on the Permacel. Furthermore, after about 10-20 minutes I find that sweat from my hand seeps through the cotton and also starts to contaminate the film. With latex it's all trapped inside and you can just keep working until you feel uncomfortable, at which point you simply replace the gloves.  |  IP: Logged Jason Greek Film Handler Posts: 21 From: Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada Registered: May 2005 posted 07-11-2005 10:33 PM                     I find with the cotton gloves you can find factory splices and imperfections that much easier, and yes, definitely easier on the hands!  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 07-12-2005 07:55 AM                    I wear one cotton glove on my left hand, and keep my right hand glove free. I'm right handed, so I can make splices easily by pulling the tape with that hand, and can also handle the film on its surface if necessary with the left at the same time. I only handle the film by its edges with the right hand.  |  IP: Logged Olivia Coleman Film Handler Posts: 53 From: Bend, OR USA Registered: Jun 2005 posted 07-12-2005 09:13 AM                        I was trained with cotton gloves. I only use a bare hand for the edge marking, cue marking, and removing splicing tape from used prints. I actually prefer to splice with the gloves on, the trick is to only touch a small part of the tape that ends up at the other end of the splicer and not on the film. I don't like how my finger sticks when trying to smooth down the tape, it's much easier with the cotton gloves! Just my preference...  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 07-12-2005 09:25 AM                     Hey Leo, what about cotton over latex? Personally, I'm a fan of cotton as well. I also agree with Olivia that a glove works wonders to smooth down tape. Though if I'm doing a lot of splicing in rapid succession, I'll just pick up the glove in my hand and wipe it over the splice, rather than putting it on to take it off a few seconds later. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-12-2005 09:35 AM                        I don't like wearing gloves at all when handling film. I have a much easier time when working with bare hands, and haven't noticed any negative effects of doing so. The cleanliness of the work surface is important, however. Clean hands are extremely important, too, and clean hands are better than dirty gloves.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 07-12-2005 09:42 AM                     It's a good question -- are clean hands better than dirty gloves? I've gone back and forth on it several times, and I'm not really sure. A: On the one hand, I have the sense that gloves will tend to pick up dirt and sweat and oil, but they will distribute less onto the film than they pick up; also, that clean hands quickly become dirty and sweaty hands. B: On the other hand, a glove is more absorbant than a hand, so some kinds of crud may stick to a glove that wouldn't stick to a hand, and might thus be redistributed to the film. At the moment, I lean towards (A), but I'm really not too sure about it. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged

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