Re: Potentially stupid pt/pd question

[Clay <wcharmon@wt.net>]

>
Potassium oxalate developer by itself won't stain paper. What is  
probably going on is that your developer is absolutely saturated with  
ferric oxalate from that it is removing from the print. So when you  
put the print into the tray of developer, it is bathing in a   
concentrated sea of ferric oxalate in solution. I would be willing to  
bet that 1) your developer is old and saturated with ferric oxalate  
and has a pH at or above 7.0, and 2) your rinse water is slightly  
basic as well. This would explain the staining on both sides of your  
paper. So it most likely IS a clearing issue, IMO, that you are  
seeing, only you are doubling down by soaking your paper in a  
developer loaded up in ferric oxalate removed from all your previous  
prints.

> Clay, I definitely tell you it's not the ferric that's staining,  
> although
> it is the same color (which is why I initially thought it was a  
> clearing
> issue).
>
> The entire sheet of paper is stained (front and back), not just  
> where it
> was coated.  The "paper white"
>
> It looks almost as if it spent some time soaking in a tray of coffee.
>
>
> Camden Hardy
>
> camden[at]hardyphotography[dot]net
> http://www.hardyphotography.net