Spotting - best technique for black spots?

I have been printing a negative which is a great shot, nice exposure, but during the exposure there must have been a couple of bits of something and on the negative (probably the result of my dodgy old 5x7" film holders)

What is the best way to spot out a black mark, as opposed to a white one?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Matt

speaking from experience, likely would be ALOT simpler to spot the negative, which would then result in a white spot on the final print. Spot the neg, reprint it, and the white spot will likely be ALOT easier to spot out then to take an exacto to the print.

Agree (strongly) with Matt.

You will find references to "knifing" a print in a lot of the older textbooks, but they go on to say that the challenge after scratching away the black spot is restoring tonality to the print while retaining the integrity of the print surface. That last part of the problem is nearly impossible.

I knife dark spots on FB prints, but it takes a sharp blade, light touch, and lots of practice. The idea is always to disguise the blemish rather than get rid of it completely. As have been mentioned above, if you can spot the negative then life is a little easier.

Hi, I have used Spot Pens that bleach out the black spots on the print to white. Then you use your Spotone or Marshall's dyes to blend with the surrounding area.

Jon

You can spot the negative. If you're good, it might almsot match the surrounding area in terms of density and printing result. You can "knife" the print. I lack the manual dexterity for that. There is another alternative that won't hurt the print surface and can be reversed up to a point. Try bleaching the offending spot with a re-halogenating, potassium ferricyanide bleach. Use a fairly dilute bleach, and proceed slowly until the spot is a little bit lighter than the surrounding area. Stop the action with a water rinse. If you feel you've gone to far, apply some print developer with a cotton swab to the area to bring it back. Rinse again and start over. Finish up by refixing and re-washing the print. Once re-fixed, the process is no longer reversible. Touch up, if needed, with a little spotone to blend in the spot with the surrounding area.