C-41 Bleach or RA4 BLIX for Selective Print Bleaching?

RetroFuture · May 11, 2019

I have a few prints I want to try selectively bleaching (like with a q-tip or brush) portions of. Some are color ra4 and some are black and whites on Adox MCC paper. I develop lots of color film and slides so I have a lot of options with bleach I already have: Kodak C-41 Bleach, RA4 Blix both mixed and with just the bleach component unmixed, etc. This may seem really obvious but can I pour a little out and use it to selectively bleach portions of the prints? Will it work ok for the black and white prints? Any suggested dilutions? I've never done it before but it seems the technique is to carefully bleach a portion and rinse it off with a running hose.

koraks · May 12, 2019

Yes, it will work, but you'll probably have to dilute the bleach quite a bit; something like 1+10 to 1+20 depending on the degree of bleaching you want to achieve. These color bleaches are quite potent.

Anon Ymous · May 12, 2019

An RA4 print is made of dyes. As such, using C41 bleach, or RA4 blix will have no effect. A typical BW print on the other hand has metallic silver and you can indeed alter it using bleach/blix. If you use bleach, then you have to fix it too.

koraks · May 12, 2019

Anon Ymous said:
An RA4 print is made of dyes. As such, using C41 bleach, or RA4 blix will have no effect.

You're mistaken. In C41 and RA4, bleach is used to get rid of the developed silver and hence, these bleaches will work on b&w prints as well.

Anon Ymous · May 12, 2019

koraks said:
You're mistaken. In C41 and RA4, bleach is used to get rid of the developed silver and hence, these bleaches will work on b&w prints as well.

I didn't say these won't work on normal bw prints, but on fully processed RA4 prints. If an RA4 is made of gelatin and dyes, there's nothing a bleach could work on, right?

koraks · May 12, 2019

Sorry, you're right. I was talking about his MCC prints. I see he also has RA4 prints he wants to bleach. I agree there's no practical solution for that.

RetroFuture · May 12, 2019

Thanks everyone-- and thanks for the education on RA4. It'll still be helpful to try it on black and white. I appreciate the responses.

Rudeofus · May 13, 2019

Are you looking for a rehal bleach or just something to reduce density? Regular color bleaches are loaded with Ammonium ion, so you may lose some silver in the process. If that's acceptable, then you can use C-41 bleach and BLIX. C-41 BLIX part A alone will not work unless you add 20-50 g/l Potassium Bromide.

C-41 Bleach or RA4 BLIX for Selective Print Bleaching?

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C-41 Bleach or RA4 BLIX for Selective Print Bleaching?

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