Re: Potentially stupid pt/pd question

[Clay <wcharmon@wt.net>]

>
Or make your own developer. It is pretty easy to mix up several  
gallons in a 5 gallon plastic bucket some Saturday morning. A lot  
cheaper to buy oxalic acid and potassium carbonate and make it yourself!

> I think saturated developer is a more likely scenario.  It's not  
> that old,
> but I admit I have let it go longer than normal without  
> replenishing it.
> I've got a shipment of potassium oxalate on the way, so I'll add to  
> what
> I've been using and see if that helps.
>
> Camden Hardy
>
> camden[at]hardyphotography[dot]net
> http://www.hardyphotography.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