Also sometimes I get irregular spots in the emulsion (sort of like a water mark)
which I think could be where the paper ripples during drying and  some of the
emulsion puddles up.  Do you think this is what it could be or some other
problem.
Today I got a beautiful, rich print using the Argotype chemicals.  Does anyone
else have experience with this chemistry vs the Van Dyke.  I also did some other
exposures with this chemistry which were not as successful but I can see  that
when everything works out, the prints are quite luscious. 
One other thing I tried was scanning a silver gelatin print and making a laser
transparency negative.  Grainey Van Dyke but tweeks my interest in digital
negatives.  
Billie