Paper processing--HCA--no running water

[lensmagic]

I want to incorporate HCA following fixation in my paper printing workflow. I am one of the unfortunates whose darkroom lacks running water. What do you think of placing fixed prints in a "stagnant" HCA bath for the duration of a printing session, then placing all the prints in a printwasher fed by running water?

 

[Tom1956]

no. Will soften emulsion. Printing session could end up lasting longer than you thought.

 

[Xmas]

if you have space you need a tray for

wash after fix
HCA
1st rinse
2nd rinse
...
hold until end tray

if you are conserving water you can dump 1st, pour 2nd into 1st cyclicy and add fresh to hold tray.

three stage rinse with only one print in each early stage removes a lotta hypo. stir up hold tray every addition.

 

[pdeeh]

There are a few threads on similar subjects, the most recent one has quite a lot of comment about washing without running water: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Doremus Scudder]

My experience:

I often leave prints in a clearing bath for up to 1/2 hour or so before the wash with no problems (e.g., the washer is already full). The problem with leaving them for really long periods of time (hours) would be emulsion softening as mentioned above. That said, I would try it and see. If your times are short enough and/or you get the prints to the washer without damage, you should be fine. If you can, however, try to give the prints a rinse before placing them in the wash aid in order to avoid build-up of fixer in your wash-aid bath from carry-over.

The sulfite in the wash aid will not damage your prints with extended exposure. The softening effect only goes to a certain point; handling may be an issue though, and try to keep your times as short as possible. The sooner you get your prints washed, the better. Do a residual hypo test after the wash to check your workflow.

I would think that adding the wash-aid bath to your workflow would be an improvement assuming you are just using a water holding-bath at the moment.

Best,

Doremus