streaks on boxed paper

I just opened a new box of Ilford Multigrade IV Deluxe MGD.25M VC RC Satin 11x14 paper. It was a box of 50 sheets. After exposing the first sheet I noticed some black streaks mostly around the edges. I then exposed a sheet from the middle of the pack and found more streaks (like cross hatched lines) around some of the edges (not the same edges as the first time) and some streaking in the middle of the paper. The paper is not fogged at all either. I was confused so I tried developing unexposed paper and those pieces came out completely clean but when I flashed other paper, the streaks appeared. This isn't the only box that this happened to. The other weird thing is the black plastic bag that the paper comes in was totally powdery. It's a black powder. I do live in Hawaii so I'm afraid that it may have something to do with the shipping? But how would those streaks be so random throughout the stack? Has anyone else had this happen?
Thank you.
lisa

Hi Lisa,

This is very odd.....can you send me the batch number from the box I will make some checks : You need to take the product back to the shop you bought it from or ship it back, it will then come back to us to be checked. The black bag the paper comes in is specially treated and they can 'feel' powdery' but no residue should emanate from or off the bag.

It is highly unlikely to be caused by shipping.

Regards

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Hi Simon,
Thank you so much for looking into this for me. Like I said, it happened once before and I had someone else try and print with it to see if it was me and when he developed an unexposed piece, it came out clean so we all assumed I had done something wrong maybe with my printing. I really couldn't figure it out so I chalked it up as "just one of those things". Now I'm really sure it's not me. The number on the back of the box is 11A572X13 and the bar code is 1949877223

Here are some images to show you what I mean. I took this with my crappy phone as it is the only digital I have. Sorry.










thanks,
lisa

Dear Lisa,

Thanks for the info, your paper was actully manufactured in August 2005 ( but you should have no issues whatsoever with 3 year old paper or film ): We have no technical queries against this batch. I have shown this to our technical people and It certainly does not look like it was done in manufacturing...what safelight are you using ? but as always better safe than sorry, pleasse return it and we will have it checked out.

Kind Regards

Simon. ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Hi Simon,
I have a Thomas Duplex safelight. I will run another safelight test tomorrow since I haven't done one in a couple of months. I'll also look for any darkroom leaks and reflections. I figured that if it were fogging of some kind, the exposure would be soft not hard edged like my second image. It also is not contained only on the edges. In the 4th image, it's in the middle and kind of big, like 1" x 2". I also made sure my tray was clean so there is no mucky residue. If you can give me any other tests to try, I will gladly do them because I would hate it if I returned a totally usable box of paper if it were preventable on my end. I really do appreciate your looking into it on your end. I think I'm the only one in the islands to use this paper so I have no one to ask about it. It seems to only happen to my 11x14s too, weird.
-lisa

Dear Lisa,

It is very weird.....best test is NO safelight, take a sheet out and just dev it 120 secs then
into the fix and put the light on... then NO safelight stop down to F16 2 second exposure
no neg obviously then 60 sec in dev:

Let me know what happens...I am away on business until 14th June but we will not forget you :

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology limited :

Simon ILFORD Photo / Harman technology Limited:

Great post, wrong date... back 14th July, obviously I won't sign off as I have done it twice on the above post.......

Simon,
I will do some further testing and will get back to you. I will talk to you upon your return. I hope to have better news.
Thanks,
Lisa

If anyone else would like to chime in and give me more suggestions, I would gladly take them all. If this is a darkroom problem, I need to fix it right away. Maybe it's a particularly sensitive batch of paper and I have a serious light problem or processing problem that I hadn't noticed before. Just guessing here right now. Maybe I'll try to post better images of the offending marks.

My suggestion is stop wasting time in the darkroom and take Simon up on his offer to make good on the paper, it's not often that corporations take an interest in our problems.

All kinds of strange things can happen between manufacturing and your darkroom, I've had completely bizarre and unexplainable things happen with print paper, some of which still nag me today. But you should be able to pull a print and not have crazy lines on it.

I actually did the safelight tests and it's absolutely not that or any stray light. So you are right Sean, I'll go ahead and send that box back. Now I'm not sure what to do. Should I send it back directly to Ilford or do I take it back to the store? I would like it tested because, like I said, it's not the first time this same thing happened to my paper so I would like to know.
-lisa

Take it back to the store, I think he is including the possibility that you purchased via mail order as well.
(from Simon's first reply)...

Simon R Galley said:

... You need to take the product back to the shop you bought it from or ship it back, it will then come back to us to be checked.

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