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. Janetp.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.
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