dark brown/purple on paper

[NDP_2010]

This is the 2nd time i have tried to print some black and white. The first time i had no problems with any dis colouration of the final paper.

This time some of my pictures have a dark purple/brown colour on the edge of the paper, and on one picture it was a little bit more.

I was using new developer, but the fixer was around 1 1/2 weeks old. I did wash each with a fair bit of water afterwards, but could this be a problem of old fixer?

thanks.
here is an example of what the paper looked like

 

[willrea]

It looks like the print wasn't fixed properly?
It might not have been in the fixer long enough or your fixer could be exhausted.

How many print have you put through the fixer and how long do you fix?

 

[NDP_2010]

about 20-25 8x10s with 250mL of diluted fixer. It is a littl bit old, and the bottle says only good for 7 days 1/2 full bottle diluted. What effect does this have?
I understand the fixer washes off any unreacted light sensitive compound, but what if there is some left on the paper?

 

[Andrew K]

your fixer was dead........and didn't remove all the silver nitrate form the paper

250ml dilute fix will fix maybe 4-6 8x10 prints.....

I mix 1 liter of fix for a big printing session, and change it after 15-20 prints hav ebeen through it..

 

[NDP_2010]

your fixer was dead........and didn't remove all the silver nitrate form the paper

250ml dilute fix will fix maybe 4-6 8x10 prints.....

I mix 1 liter of fix for a big printing session, and change it after 15-20 prints hav ebeen through it..

I didnt know this! thanks for the information.

 

[piu58]

250ml dilute fix will fix maybe 4-6 8x10 prints.....

The fixers I use allow slightly more. I mix 1+6. The recommendation of the manufacturer is 9 sheets 8x10 prints for that. Normally I exhaust the fixer not to that limit.

But Andrew ist right, likely you overused your fixer. This bath is not very expansive, but paper is. It costs less to dicard it before it has been fully used.

 

[Neal]

Dear NDP_2010,

A user at a public darkroom I used to work at had and identical looking problem. She didn't place the paper face down in the fixer, nor did she agitate well enough.

Good luck solving your problem,

Neal Wydra

 

[Marco B]

your fixer was dead........and didn't remove all the silver nitrate form the paper

Correction: there isn't silver nitrate in the paper, it is silver halides (silverchloride or silverbromide) being removed by the fixer. Silver nitrate is a source for creating the halides in paper production, but it not the light sensitive compound in the paper being sold.

 

[NDP_2010]

replaced the fixer, problem solved. Now i just need to learn how to enlarge photos properly. :confused:

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Use a 2-bath fixing scheme. A 1-bath scheme has very low capacity - costly in terms of $ and (minor) pollution.

For archival levels of residual silver, a single bath scheme will process 10 8x10's / liter of fixer while a two bath scheme will process 40 8x10's / liter.

Set up two fresh baths of fixer. After 40 prints: discard the first bath; move the second bath to the first; and mix up a new second fixer bath. Repeat every 40 prints. Use full strength fixer as per manufacturer's instructions, 1 minute in each bath for rapid ammonium thiosulfate fixers.