Greg, You don't have scratches. As you noted, you have sludge. I've had the same problem before. You got it in possibly two ways. Depending on your distilled water volume, you used too much LAN. The directions say two drops per 500ml or pint. That is the most you want to use. It is preferable to use only one drop. This stuff is concentrated. Second, you squeegeed with your fingers. Don't do that. The action of even a clean squeegee creates the aeration that causes foam. That's what dries and ends up looking like sludge. Don't squeegee your negatives. Just lift them gently from your wetting solution and hang them to dry. If you are concerned about air-born dust, run your hot water enough to create a good head of steam in the room. That will pull out most of the dust at that time and give your negatives a good drying environment. The comment about filtering you tap water is also wise. I'm afraid there may be no saving Barbie, though. Once the crud is dried into the emulsion, it's stuck. But try a dilute (one drop) LAN soak anyway. It won't hurt. Finally, don't use PhotoFlo for anything but cleaning your equipment. It is about the foamingest stuff there is and next to impossible to get into to a low enough concentration to do you any good. It's why they made squeegees and sponges in the first place. Peace! Sidney
