Urgent help required (!) - ZIATYPE - 2nd attempt has transfered to the neg - bad!

[nick mulder]

hello,

not sure if this is urgent or not but in my second attempt at a ziatype I didn't let the chems dry enough and they have transfered in some small areas to the neg after exposure - they aint rubbing off ...

the neg is sitting in water for the time being ...

is it ruined ?

what can I do to save it ?

Nick

(print looks great btw, apart from the missing sections )

 

[photomc]

Nick, sorry to tell you but in my experience (it happened to me) it is there to stay.

If there is a way to remove it, I do not know what it is. For future reference, this is why B&S mentions using a sheet of mylar in between the negative and the coated paper. Seem to remember Richard Sullivian saying he never had an issue with it, but it was a possilbility. I did, and ended up using the mylar to keep from having it happen again. Of course the trick is to get the coated paper dry enough that this will not happen, but not too dry as the process uses humidity in the coated paper.

Sorry...

 

[nick mulder]

awwww!

it was a good neg - I made 2 copies of it when shooting but for the other I forgot to lift up the bellows sag and a large part of it is blacked out... The copy I just ruined was the safety itself

I'll chalk it up to experience...

Nice tones tho! - the self masking mechanism in action is really noticable - i suppose a couple (NO MORE thank you) of ruined negs is worth the learning

 

[matt miller]

Happened to me too, with a favorite neg. The neg still hangs above my sink in the darkroom to remind me to always be careful.

 

[Akki14]

Sometimes I'm glad I enlarge negatives for these processes... I don't have the same disappointment if my neg sticks to something because I'll just make another from the original (or not even have to go back that far if it's the negative... can just contact print another from the interpositive).

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I'll dig around and see if I still have my notes from the APIS conference - Rondall Partridge mentioned a technique for getting rid of silvering-out spots that might also work for removing pt/pd glop on negatives. I want to say it involved denatured alcohol but don't hold me to that. You could go ahead and try soaking it in a bath of denatured alcohol and see if the gunk comes off - the neg is toast already anyway, so it won't do any harm if that makes it worse.

 

[dpurdy]

I have even tried soaking my ruined neg in HCA to no avail. It was a beautiful nude and someday I might have it ..oh no don't say it... scanned, repaired and an ink jet neg made.

 

[nick mulder]

I've kept the neg for the possibility of repair but the stuff really seems embedded in the emulsion...

I have some dodgy cyanotype here that goes blotchy and crystalizes forming little unexposed areas, youd think the prints would be terrible and they are technically - but they look amazing to me, the neg will still work fine for this

Every cloud has a prussian blue lining.

 

[Kerik]

Sorry to say you're probably out of luck. The only reliable way I know to remove pt/pd sensitizer from film is with a scanner and Photoshop. If you're going to try something drastic, I'd suggest getting a good scan of the negative first...

 

[Dana Sullivan]

We've actually seen plenty of 'ruined' negatives that print just fine. Often times the smudges are visible to your eye, but invisible to UV and it prints right through...

 

[nick mulder]

We've actually seen plenty of 'ruined' negatives that print just fine. Often times the smudges are visible to your eye, but invisible to UV and it prints right through...

I know what you mean, I can often see smudges from certain angles but when on a light box they are almost transparent - also there is the UV factor, it might cut through the smudge more than visible light...

Thing is this isn't just a smudge, I'll scan it later tonight and you'll see what I mean ...

by the way - Thanks for the paper Dana

Nick