Spotting Glossy RC Paper

Amador

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Hi everyone,

I've recently been experimenting with the new Ilford MGV RC Glossy paper. I really liking it in a lot of ways, but I am struggling with spotting. I am using Peerless ink. The darker areas around the spot seems to take the ink up just fine, but the actual white spot won't accept the ink. It's driving me crazy! Anyone have a similar experience, or have any tips to overcome this? Thanks for your help!

Chris
 

M Carter

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When I spot gloss fiber, I wet some gum arabic and paint an area of it on my palette (and old dessert plate) and use that to give the ink some gloss. But I've never tried to spot RC, it's basically like painting plastic I'd guess - but gum arabic may help with adhesion? I have an old set of Marumi (I think?) warm and cool spotting dyes, but with lith prints I just use quality watercolors (due to the wide range of colors with lith). I'd look into something like airbrush dyes if nobody here has a tried & true solution?
 

MattKing

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SpotTone pens work well, but it definitely requires one to use a light touch and to build up the result with many small applications.
 

revdoc

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I haven't spotted any MGV yet, but I've spotted older Ilford gloss RC papers in the past. I used Spotone (in the bottles) and as Matt says, it's a multi-step process. I used a sharpened toothpick to put a tiny drop of Spotone right on the light spot; if it gets onto the denser areas adjacent, you'll get a dark ring. The spot itself will be darker, but the dark ring will make it seem lighter than it is.

I think Greg Davis has a video on his Youtube channel about spotting. It might be worth a watch if you haven't already.
 

koraks

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You might have to give the area a bit of 'tooth' for the dye to stick to the emulsion. Either by gentle scraping or as M Carter suggests by applying some gum Arabic.
 
OP
OP

Amador

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Thanks for the replies everyone! Some great suggestions here. I will do some more experimenting and see how it goes.

Chris
 

MattKing

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I find that the tiniest little figure 8s work best for me.
 
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