Grey coloured borders on Fomabrom Variant 112.

[tomalophicon]

Hello, I made some prints tonight and the borders were consistently turning-out a bluish grey colour. The exposed parts of the prints look pretty good/normal.
Does anyone know why this is? Could my fixer be dead?
I've done nothing differently to what I usually do. Usually my borders are a bright white.
Thanks,
Tom.

 

[Anon Ymous]

I'd say it's probably fixer related. If it is, then the prints are ruined, the paper has printed out and you can't remove that stain. I've noticed that unprocessed Fomaspeed (RC) papers left out of the box will get bluish gray after some time, but haven't tried it with FB paper. If you have selenium toner, try mixing few ml of 1+9 solution and put a drop or two on the border. Leave it there for 2' and if it leaves a stain, it's a sign that halides were left after fixation.

 

[kauffman v36]

sounds liek fixer to me as well. ive had this happen to me as well but in the center of the paper. reason being was the paper was not fully immersed in the fixer tray, so the middle of thepage was floating and didnt get fixed properly, your case might have been the opposite, the borders were floating and therefore not getting fixed properly.

btw, this happened to me on ilford mgiv and adox mcc110.

 

[tomalophicon]

Thanks guys.
I'm quite sure it was immersed.

Before I dispose of this fixer I'll try it on some other FB paper and see what happens.

 

[Rolleijoe]

If the prints look "ok", then just mat them out, (covering the borders), and no one will ever be the wiser. But for additional prints, it sounds as if your fixer is indeed the culprit. Always mix fresh chemistry before every session, and there should be no problems. Cheers.