b/w darkroom prints with gold edges

I have been posting about this on another photography forum and it was suggested that I post here to see if anyone could help me out with this. No one seems to know what this is!

I've been printing some b/w photos and the last few times my photos have been developing with a strange gold residue along the edges of the paper. I'm almost certain it happens before the print reaches the the fix bath and definitely before the water bath. So it's possible that it happens in either the developer or the stop. I'm careful with properly mixing the chemicals and timing the print in the chemicals. I also label my trays, only put chemicals in their designated trays, and rinse the trays after each use. It's not the photo paper because I've tried two different types of paper now.

If anyone has any idea of what's going on here I'd appreciate any feedback! Christmas is coming and I'd like to have some nice prints done in time.

Need more information I suspect. What paper, developer, stop bath, fixer... brand, dilution, times and temperatures are you using?

Oh and welcome to APUG!

I've seen a stain on the edge of RC paper when it is developed for 3 minutes or more! I don't know if I'd call it gold, more orange. I think it's from the developer penetrating the space between the emulsion and the base and not being removed by the following baths.

Thank you for the welcome!

I describe it as gold because the residue looks almost metallic brown. The specific chemicals and dilutions are as follows:
Ilford Multigrade paper developer, 1+9
Ilford Ilfostop stop bath, 1+19, this one could be inaccurate in dilution since it can be difficult to measure
Ilford Rapid Fixer film & paper fixer, I mixed it at 1+3, but it suggests 1+4 for 2.5 litres and 1+9 for 5 litres (sorry for anyone who doesn't know metric measurement very well)

Photo paper I've been using has been Ilford Multigrade IV RC De Luxe (both glossy and matte have shown this residue).

Measuring the stop bath shouldn't be hard, it's just a ratio. You can use metric or imperial, whichever you prefer, either 1 oz ilfostop to 19 oz of water or 30mL of ilfostop to 570mL will make 20oz or 600mL of solution. Need more then double it. Just figure out how much solution you need and then divide it by 20, then use one of those parts of stop bath and 19 of water.

Ilfostop has yellow dye which turns purple when it is exhausted (I find the yellow goes dull first and I change it at that time instead of waiting for it to turn purple). Could the stop bath dye your paper yellow if it is too strong?

The Rapid fixer should be 1+4 OR 1+9 but those are different dilutions requiring different fixing times. It is just saying that the entire 0.5L will make working solution of total volume 2.5L at 1+4 or 5L at 1+9; it isn't suggesting that you make 2.5 or 5 litres at once. Just make up as much as you need for now and save it as fixer can be used for many sheets of paper and lasts a while, unlike developer which doesn't last long. The stop bath also lasts until the yellow dye turns purple.

How long are you developing the prints? For RC, one minute is sufficient and you get the most consistency in results if you do it exactly the same each time.
That said, I've used that paper and chemistry (I use a different stop bath, but it can't be too different) and I've never had gold or brown at the edges. Is the temperature way off?

I've had fingers contaminated by other darkroom chemicals leave a somewat brown stain on the edge of paper when it comes out of the developer. Keeping hands clean or using tongs eliminates this.

I appreciate the feedback from some experts. There's a few common sense things that have been laid out for me clearly that I understand now. I typically develop prints for one minute in developer, 30 seconds in stop, and 1:30 in fix. I keep the temperature as close to 20 degrees (celcius) as I can. I just go by what I was taught in a basic darkroom class a couple years ago. But I will keep an eye out for all these things next time I'm printing.

Does using hard or soft water make a difference in printing beside possible water rings?

RC paper with 1:30 fix in 1+4 or 1+9 fixer? In 1+4 it just needs :30 for RC paper, :60 for FB.

1+9 is 1:00 for RC, 2:00 for FB, never 1:30.

Okay. Thank you.

"Metallic brown" - that seems like it could be bronzing, an excess of metallic silver in severely overexposed and underfixed parts of the print.. Is it possible that the paper edges have been exposed to light? Is it possible that the edges of the paper have curled up out of the fixer?

Does using hard or soft water make a difference in printing beside possible water rings?

Click to expand...

It might matter if there are specific things in the water that are reacting with the chemicals, but it would be tough for me to guess exactly what. My water is harder than a rock and my biggest problem when printing is that bigger particles can scratch the paper.
I do my prints facedown and make sure there are no air pockets. When they curl, they tend to curl towards the chemicals that way. Also, 30-60 seconds extra in the fix shouldn't cause something that noticeable unless there's something else going on. Is the paper older? Purchased second hand?

I am not aware about the hardness, but the mineral content can create issues. As an example a high iron content increase contrast.