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

Re: VDB nasty staining problem

I am now convinced just how important the first clearing bath is. I always agitate fairly vigorously. I use about 1.5 litres of distilled water with 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid for a 11x14 sized print. 
Mabey this isn't enough solution? 

As far as fixer is concerned, I have another question: 
If the print has already been toned in a noble metal (ie gold, platinum) shouldn't one be able to use a factory made acid fixer? 
The issued of fixer fading isn't  such an issue and wouldn't going from an acid toner (such as gold chloride) to an acid fixer be easier on the print? 

Any comments? 

david



On 3-May-07, at 9:46 AM, sam wang wrote:

Loris,

Maybe it's how the first bath removes the extra silver that's important. Don's 3 cirtic acid bath might also help in this regard, short of importing Judy's New York water. Do you agitate vigorously?

An interesting side note: one of my students made quite good VD prints using undiluted Rapid Fixer, which I always thought would bleach the print. Just goes to show there are many ways to skin the cat, so to speak.

Best,
Sam

On May 2, 2007, 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