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My print turned yellow. Is it my Dektol?

William Varcas , Mar 20, 2010; 11:06 p.m.

I printed only 4 prints within a 2 hour range. On my fourth print the edge is literally attacked by yellow stink. I turned on my bathroom light and saw the dektol looks like golden apple juice.

O yeah. Today is the first day of Spring. Will that explain the yellow stain?

Responses

Chris Waller , Mar 21, 2010; 04:00 a.m.

How old is your working solution of Dektol? It may be stain from the developer but I'd also suspect your fixer. And are you using a stop bath? Is it an indicating stop bath?

Frank Schifano , Mar 21, 2010; 11:41 a.m.

I doubt it's the Dektol. I've used Dektol in a working solution that was as dark as tea and while it failed to work to my satisfaction, it did not stain the print. I do use an indicating stop bath, and a moderately acidic fixer. From your brief description, I'm guessing that you skipped the stop bath in favor of a plain water stop. I'm also guessing that you used the same water for all four prints. So, by the time you got to the fourth print, that water had become a very weak developer solution. Going straight from developer to fix can cause these kinds of stains.
Plain water makes an effective stop bath, but it takes a lot of water to wash out all the developer from a piece of paper before immersing the print into the fixer. Fiber based papers are particularly difficult. RC papers less so. Using a tray of water without a nearby supply of fresh running water for the job is inconvenient at best. An acid stop bath takes care of that problem. No, it won't completely remove developing agents from the paper. These are still carried over, but they are rendered completely ineffective by the acidic environment of the stop bath and will cause no harm.

John O'Keefe-Odom , Mar 21, 2010; 01:19 p.m.

Leftover yellow will usually be a developer stain. Leftover purple will be a fixer stain. Pinkish colors in prints are sometimes due to fogging.

Dektol solutions will gradually turn to a dark brown from the redox, as it becomes exhausted. The solution does not have to be clear in order for it to work.

William Varcas , Mar 21, 2010; 03:02 p.m.

O I see. Frank's response correlates closely to my specification last night.

I was using fiber based paper. I only have one foiled pan to hold the water because I was doing this in my bathtub. Because of the space limited it is inconvenient for me to move the foil pan around. Therefore, the wash pan is a collection of other prints that was fixed or is being washed to be fixed.

I am using a metallic tong. Could that cause the yellow stain?

Bob Sunley , Mar 21, 2010; 06:17 p.m.

Foil pans are a big NO NO. The chems react with the aluminum, use a plastic pan instead.

Frank Schifano , Mar 21, 2010; 07:32 p.m.

So you are going from developer straight into what had become a very weak fixing bath, and one that isn't particularly acidic, so the developer was not immediately rendered inactive. Yep, that can do it, and you probably turned on the white light before the print was completely fixed too. Been there, done that, and got the t-shirt. Get some stop bath and some plastic trays. Carrying active developer over into the fixer is a good way to shorten the useful working life of the fixer too. Don't be afraid of the stop bath. It's cheap, lasts a long time, and once diluted to working strength, is likely one of the least toxic chemicals in the darkroom. It is the same stuff as distilled white vinegar at 1/2 strength. As I said before, water can be used as a stop bath, but the practice requires quite a bit of time and fresh water to be effective. Many of the naysayers who eschew the use of an acid stop bath without mentioning this are probably assuming a copious amount of fresh water as a given. Others are probably very poorly informed.

William Varcas , Mar 23, 2010; 02:55 p.m.

Thanks for the advice guys.

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