pigment and ink prints weird problems developing

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hi years ago i had a problem with my groundglass being broken
it made all my photographs look upside down and backwards. eventually
i got it fixed ..
now i am having trouble with my digital ink / pigment prints and i was hoping someone would shed some light for me..

ok i have a file that i ripped from either a negative or print that i scanned. i do whatever i need to do to get it
to the print stage but here's the problem. the paper comes out of the printer nice and crisp, like to die for ...
but as soon as i put the paper in the developer and fixer it gets all messed up
well, sometimes, it depends on the paper and the ink. i'm not printing color files because i don't do
color darkroom work, just b/w .. i've used expensive and cheap printers and inks/pigments but its hit or miss..
should i agitate less in the developer and fixer ? i thought ink/pigment printing was supposed to be easier than enlarging/contact printing ..
im thinking of going back to straight darkroom work if i can't figure this out ..
thanks in advance for your help !
 
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faberryman

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I know your post is tongue in cheek, but I've not had that problem. I've done platinum over pigment and much to my surprise the pigment doesn't run when place in the potassium oxalate and EDTA. I was printing on HPR. If you are printing on a slick paper, you may get a different result.
 
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faberryman
i gotta get me some HPR then, not even sure what that is.

john
 

ced

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You need to tweak the voltage this may have a slight influence on the range but agitation plays a bigger role when trying to alter the colour output to get a B&W result.
Hope this helps.
 

Patrick Robert James

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Obviously you are having a problem fixing the inks, so you should probably put it in the fixer first before the developer. If the ink starts to run, throw it quickly in the stop bath. That is why they call it stop, right? Makes sense. Also, are you doing the printing in the dark? It used to say "open in darkroom only" on the packages. Could be you are using cheap paper and the warning wore off the package. Try doing it in a dark room. You could also try putting the paper in the developer before printing. Some of those old papers were developer incorporated, so if you put the developer in the paper like they used to do it might work like you want. The wet paper may cause a problem with your printer, although those fancy minilab printers are wet too, so if those work, your printer at home should work wet too. They are both printers. Makes sense? I've never tried any of this myself, but I did read about it on the internet. They said they were experts, so I believed them. One even had his own You Tube channel! Good luck and let us know how it goes...
 
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ahhh
thanks i'll try that stuff
maybe since i don't use stop bath
it might be my problem ..
ill have to get some
faberryman said:
Sorry, HPR is Hahnemühle Platinum Rag.
Click to expand...

ahh, i've had PBR, sometimes listen to NPR but had no clue with HPR was .. thanks !
 

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What developer are you using? The two most common, Photoshop and Lightroom, are limited to color only and don't work for BW images. I think you need the developer from Cone Editions called Piezography, I've heard good things about it.
 
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tedr1 said:
What developer are you using? The two most common, Photoshop and Lightroom, are limited to color only and don't work for BW images. I think you need the developer from Cone Editions called Piezography, I've heard good things about it.
Click to expand...

im using the gimp ..thanks for the info on pizzagraphy. i hope i get that with goatcheas mozz.
ill have to look that up. im going ot experiment with plain old hypo before the developer and then
some vinegar stop bath to see if i can get stuff to stop .. i mean the photos look so good before
i soup them then they're a mess... like the bacground of munch's the scream
 
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faberryman said:
Are you using pigment or dye inks?
Click to expand...

we have a local place that refills ink jet cartridges i use their ink
and i bought a bunch of bic pens and im filling up cartridges with a mix of
india ink from india ( of course ! ) and bic ink .. its kind of messy !
im thinking of going to a tatoo parlor and getting some of their ink too ...
 

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If there's light leaking into your darkroom you have to close your eyes. Also the final print will look better and makes it archival. You don't need inks or dyes, it's all in your head.
 
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thanks ned,
i tried exactly that last night but my problem ended up that i now have
hands a different colour than the rest of my body, like cartoon hands
and to make matters worse i had a dream last night i had a squeeky voice and a pal named jupiter
should have used the glow in the dark inks i picked up ! ... i'll just keep my eyes closed
 

Patrick Robert James

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You know I think I see a few problems with your ink. First of all, Bic pens are made in China now, so the ink is Chinese not American. Everybody knows American ink doesn't run, it stands and fights! 'Merica! Also India ink isn't India ink anymore. They found it was cheaper to make in Afghanistan with the burned left over poppy production since there is so much of it. This of course creates a Karma problem so it is no wonder your ink is running like the tears of the oppressed. Also I've heard that tattoo ink only works if you are taking pictures of skulls and the saturation isn't that great. It is rumored that tattoo ink droops with age and blurs together making a hot holy mess when the print is in it's 80s.
 
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YIKES !
i forgot about all that stuff.
maybe i have to make my own ink ..
can't deal bad kharma or foreign ink .
guess i gotta find an old fashioned ink house
i forgot about the droops, can't have my prints do that
nots to mentions skulls gives me the creeps.
im use cold cream to get the ink off my hands, its not doing a very good job.
 
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figured out something
i filled my ink cartridges up with lemon juice
and when the prints warmed up the images appeared !
 

ced

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Well if it is all about wet printing my guess is that the printer needs a bath immersion to get the humidity back to full saturation.
If left immersed you get better inkflow and the nozzles will never block up again.
One main advantage here is that the inks will in time merge giving better DMax for the shadow areas and over time your printer will convert itself from a colour printer to a monochrome deluxe model all at no extra cost.
 
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