What to do with very old and fogged Ilford Ilfospeed Multigrade II paper?

darkosaric · Nov 11, 2013

Hi all,

I got 3 boxes of 10 50x60cm Ilford paper from ebay. Boxes were unopened.
I test it - and it is bad. In total darkness - first in developer and then in fixer, when I turned the light, it was dark gray, totally unusable. I test 2 of 3 boxes - the same result.
I have no idea how old it is, it is written "made in France".

Any ideas how to make this stuff usable maybe some interesting experiment , or maybe coat it with liquid emulsion from another side?

thanks,

Neil Grant · Nov 11, 2013

darkosaric said:
Hi all,

I got 3 boxes of 10 50x60cm Ilford paper from ebay. Boxes were unopened.
I test it - and it is bad. In total darkness - first in developer and then in fixer, when I turned the light, it was dark gray, totally unusable. I test 2 of 3 boxes - the same result.
I have no idea how old it is, it is written "made in France".

Any ideas how to make this stuff usable maybe some interesting experiment , or maybe coat it with liquid emulsion from another side?

thanks,

I would use it to clean the rollers in a paper processor or dryer. That's about all it's good for.

K-G · Nov 11, 2013

Either use it for lith-printing or put in the fixer to increase the silverconcentration if you give your fix to silver recovery.

Karl-Gustaf

darkosaric · Nov 11, 2013

K-G said:
Either use it for lith-printing
Karl-Gustaf

I will give it a try in Lith.

DannL. · Nov 11, 2013

Photograms. If the paper will hold an image of any kind you can use it to create interesting images. You can also use the paper image (negative) to create positives. If the fog is uneven or varying, it can make the results even more interesting.

Examples

jim appleyard · Nov 11, 2013

I had a friend who would give old paper to his students to use as inkjet paper.

mrred · Nov 11, 2013

Pinhole camera time....

ME Super · Nov 11, 2013

+1.

Solargraph maybe?

removed account4 · Nov 11, 2013

solargraph, lumen prints, incamera long exposed paper negative ( retina print ), photo grams paper negatives, lith printing, its all good ...

NedL · Nov 11, 2013

jnanian said:
solargraph, lumen prints, incamera long exposed paper negative ( retina print ), photo grams paper negatives, lith printing, its all good ...

I was going to jump in with a list like this if John didn't. Have fun with it!
If it is not too badly fogged, you may also be able to make normal paper negatives and develop by inspection in dilute paper developer. Add to John's list that you may be able to print out with it ( like a lumen print or photogram, but with a film negative on top instead. Give it a good long exposure until it's darker than you want then fix in weak hypo.) One neat thing about solargraphs is that every kind of paper is different, so you might get something wonderful.

newcan1 · Nov 13, 2013

You could try exposing it, developing it, then bleaching it in darkness in a ferricyanide/pot bromide bleach, wash and dry in darkness -- see if it then becomes usable. I was going to try this with some fogged paper.

darkosaric · Nov 24, 2013

On the end I tried Lith print - and it is great, totally usable. Attaching two examples in Moersch Easy Lith.

Rafal Lukawiecki · Nov 24, 2013

The river print is impressive, with excellent composition, and simply beautiful. It is nice to see a good use of lith printing to add to the expressive and not just as a gimmick. Thanks for sharing, Darko.

darkosaric · Nov 24, 2013

Thanks Rafal .

rbender · Nov 24, 2013

I just saw this thread. I came across this photo stream on flickr and sent him an email about his process. He told me it was 30 year old Ilfospeed processed in ilford developer. Check it out for what it's worth. Your lith prints look great! Robert
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sovetskoye/with/9158507670/

NedL · Nov 24, 2013

rbender said:
I just saw this thread. I came across this photo stream on flickr and sent him an email about his process. He told me it was 30 year old Ilfospeed processed in ilford developer. Check it out for what it's worth. Your lith prints look great! Robert
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sovetskoye/with/9158507670/

Those are wonderful. Inspiring.

I agree Darko's lith prints look great too!

darkosaric · Nov 25, 2013

rbender said:
I just saw this thread. I came across this photo stream on flickr and sent him an email about his process. He told me it was 30 year old Ilfospeed processed in ilford developer. Check it out for what it's worth. Your lith prints look great! Robert
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sovetskoye/with/9158507670/

Thanks .
This is very nice flickr stream! How did he manage to get such result? I tried this old paper in normal developer (PQ Ilford and Moersch), and it was totally unusable - black as night.

paul_c5x4 · Nov 25, 2013

darkosaric said:
On the end I tried Lith print - and it is great, totally usable. Attaching two examples in Moersch Easy Lith.

Been doing some lith prints myself over the last couple of days. By coincidence, also shot around Venice and also on well out of date papers.
The Agfa Brovira dated 1962 produced some very nice results

Which reminds me, I really want to go back to Venice sometime when it is warm, sunny and without any tourists....

mrred · Nov 25, 2013

Time to start looking into lith....

rbender · Nov 27, 2013

He did not go into a lot of detail. Only that he would use a brush and try to bring up areas that needed it. I can only think how the paper has been stored would make a difference. Looks like the lith process is a good option for the box of paper you have.

What to do with very old and fogged Ilford Ilfospeed Multigrade II paper?

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