U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: VDB nasty staining problem

Re: VDB nasty staining problem

thanks Loris, Don & Sam for your suggestions. 

I did some more staining tests yesterday with Stonehenge warm white. Even after washing the prints for 10 minutes between toner and fix, there was still staining. I had also cleared for longer 4.5 minutes (I usually do around 2.5 minutes) and longer first  wash. The staining was much less severe but still noticeable. Then I  tried the Platine which showed NO STAINING. happy happy joy joy!!

The Stonehenge just is not clearing properly and I guess the gold toner is just enhancing the stain? For the time being, I'm going to go with the Platine because it just looks so amazing with the series I'm working on!! the dmax simply kicks butt!   But I will try later with the Stonehenge again. I don't think that the problem is particular to the batch of paper I bought because I'm getting the same problem with white and warm white. I'm wondering if the issue has something either to do with humidity . I have been coating in a small room with higher humidity than with previous sessions (my meter says between 50-60%RH but who knows how accurate it is). 
The Stonehenge paper seems to be absorbing much more sensitizer than the Platine. Perhaps higher humidity just isn't as good for the Stonehenge as it is for the Platine? Which leads to the more absorbant Stonehenge not clearing as well? too many questions. 

Don, I will try using multiple citric acid baths in the future. It's a great  idea but, also, alot of distilled water. especially with the big prints I'm doing now which use around 3 litres per tray and one shot. 

david


On 2-May-07, at 1:39 PM, Loris Medici wrote:

Hi Sam,

I don't know if that will work for David (maybe his/your environment/procedure is different than mine) but I had always done the first wash in citric acid (and a second wash in tap water) with Vandyke and never experienced David's problem when toning in gold/thiourea + I never used running water when processing.

Regards,
Loris.

Quoting sam wang <stwang@bellsouth.net>:

David,

Let me venture a guess: the stain may be a result of how you used the
citric acid "clearing bath". It's important to wash off the excess
emulsion as the first step. When you soak the print in the "clearing
bath" some of the excess silver nitrate could get imbedded in the paper
instead of being washed off, and that would produce stain.

So try skipping the citric acid bath and see if you still get stain. I
never tried using citric acid, but when my students agitate exposed
vandyke in a tray of water instead of rinsing the prints in running
water, they got stain. That's without gold toning, but I suspect the
toning is a separate issue.

Please do report back if you find out.

Good luck.

Sam Wang

david drake photography
www.daviddrakephotography.com