[pure-silver] Re: b&w print has discolored

Hi Janet
I agree with Richard's opinion exactly.
However, you say you didn't selenium tone the print because it was RC. Why?
You will still give protection with selenium , (or polysulphide or gold)
with RC papers. It doesn't have to be used only with FB.
Tim

-----Original Message-----
From: pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard Knoppow
Sent: 27 March 2008 07:45
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: b&w print has discolored


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Janet Cull" <jcull@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 8:09 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] b&w print has discolored


> Tonight I picked up a print I had taken to a print 
> competition last  year.  It was matted with a bit of white 
> border showing.  I re-matted  it to show tomorrow night, 
> and upon close inspection I see that in  places it looks 
> yellowish, orange-ish, and brownish.  It almost looks 
> like a bad selenium toning job, except that I don't think 
> I'd have  toned it because it's rc paper.  The borders are 
> white with no stains.
>
> I'm rewashing it now, but rubbing my hands over it doesn't 
> remove it  so I don't think it's some surface gunk.  It's 
> a good print.  Well,  it was!
>
> Should I assume it was a problem with the fixer?  I have 
> other prints  I did at the same time and they look fine. 
> I don't know how it was  stored, but by the condition of 
> the mat I know it wasn't handled as  carefully as I'd have 
> liked.  (I'll say, though, it's my fault for  having left 
> it so long.)  I took it in a large envelope and it was 
> returned without any protection at all - just handed to me 
> in the  white mat, with a backing I had on it.
>
> I've had prints go bad from exhausted fixer and from just 
> not having  been left long enough.  This looks different 
> from any of those I've  seen.  Maybe it's a new-to-me 
> fixing error.
>
> There is a brownish tint along the edge of the image on 2 
> sides, but  not on the white border.  There are other 
> discolorations (slight)  within the image, too.  If it was 
> improperly fixed, wouldn't it be  discolored overall - the 
> border too?  I just walked back and put it  in fixer, just 
> in case it might help.  I don't know.
>
> I don't suppose there's anything I can do at this point, 
> other than  be more careful next time?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Janet
>
> p.s.  If this fixer doesn't change it (I can hope) I'll 
> scan it when  it's dry and link to it so you can see the 
> stains, if that will help.
>

    If the stains follow approximately the image its most 
likely to be from incomplete fixing. Its very unlikely that 
RC paper would be inadequately washed and lack of washing 
tends to leave fixer in all parts of the emulsion resulting 
in an overall stain although it may not be uniform. Since 
fixer reaction products which are not soluble tend to be 
concentrated in the image area they will result in image 
staining. Much of the stain is probably silver sulfide which 
is, of course, what sepia toned images are made of so they 
look similar. The difference is that the sulfiding from 
fixer complexes is uncontrolled and may also result in 
bleaching of the image.
    Its also possible that this is oxidation of the image 
although that is more often seen as "bronzing" of the image 
from extremely finely devided silver on the surface of the 
print. Oxidation is a redox process where some of the image 
silver is converted to silver oxide some of which can 
migrate to the surface where it is converted to metallic 
silver again by different polutants. Sometimes this 
silvering out or bronzing can be removed by a mild silver 
bleach as is used for dichroic fog but the image will have 
been damaged.
    Re-washing inadequately washed prints does no good after 
a couple of weeks. The hypo and its reaction products will 
gradually be converted to insoluble substances. About the 
only thing to do is to reprint.
    A suitable bleach for dichroic fog or surface silver can 
be made by adding about 15 grams/liter to film strength acid 
rapid fixer. Watch the film or paper very carefully because 
this soluton can begin to bleach the image fairly quickly.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

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