Kodak Vericolor II ProS + Caffenol + C-41 Blix as Reducer

Quite a while back, I acquired a pair of rolls of very expired Kodak Vericolor II ProS, in 120 size. Having shot and developed the first roll as C-41, with the result of very pale images, I turned instead to caffenol to develop the second roll. This resulted in nearly totally opaque film -- even using my cell phone's flashlight just barely allowed me to see the images on the film.

Not having a reducer at the time (and still not having proper reducer), these rolls sat for about a year and a half until I finished a run of C-41 developing and came up with what I thought was a clever idea: use the C-41 Blix as an impromptu reducer! I ended up using full strength Blix and constant agitation for 5 minutes, followed by further fixing with Ilford Rapid Fix. These are my results:



Of course, I suspect that this worked as "well" as it did because it was so severely overdeveloped. I felt pretty safe to experiment in this way because I could see that the negatives had the imprint from the 120 backing paper as it was, so just having useful negatives was a positive. I think it gives a nice nostalgic vibe, but that could just be my feeling of the year as a whole. Maybe someone here will find this useful.

Kodak Vericolor II ProS (ISO 100?)
Overexposed +2 in camera
Developed 15:00 in Caffenol
Reduced with full-strength C-41 Blix, 5:00
Fixed with Ilford Rapid Fix

Cuprocene said:

Maybe someone here will find this useful.

Kodak Vericolor II ProS (ISO 100?)
Overexposed +2 in camera
Developed 15:00 in Caffenol
Reduced with full-strength C-41 Blix, 5:00
Fixed with Ilford Rapid Fix

Click to expand...

@Cuprocene: No surprise that it worked. David Lyga prescribed this method for developing C41 film in B&W chemistry here:
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...ilm-w-d-76-b-w-chemicals.156712/#post-2033672

A slightly different variant here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...eloped-or-printed.117199/page-49#post-2138021

That's the benefit of experience, I suppose. When I looked up this very solution, all I found were posts discussing the use of diluted RA-4 Blix as a typical reducer. Using C-41 Blix diluted to that same extent would take about an hour of constant agitation to achieve the same results as what I described above.

If only David's post on developing C41 film in B&W chemistry were made sticky, many would benefit.