Hello everyone,
First of all, big thanks to each one of you for your help and time, I really appreciate that. Sorry about being silent for longer time, I got sick and got really busy at work, but yesterday I was finally able to get back to the darkroom and do some tweaks to my workflow that finally resolved the issue, so maybe some reader from future will also appreciate my results.
First thing, I got the Nova WashMaster Eco 16x12" print washer. I do only 8x10" prints, but despite the size difference, it works wonders, prints are flowing just below the water surface, so retrieving them is a piece of cake.
I think in my case the reason for staining was insufficient washing after fixing and before toning.
This was my original workflow that caused the staining:
- 3 min Ilford Multigrade developer
- 1 min stop bath
- 1 min Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4, 1st bath
- 1 min Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4, 2nd bath
- ~2 minutes rinsing in flowing water, then into bucket of water, waiting for toning
- 2 min Harman Selen Toner, 1:20
- 2 min Adox Thio Clear ECO HCA, 1:10
- final wash
And this is the modified workflow without staining:
- 3 min Ilford Multigrade developer
- 1 min stop bath
- 1 min Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4, 1st bath
- 1 min Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4, 2nd bath
- ~2 minutes rinsing in flowing water, then into bucket of water, waiting for HCA
- 10 min Ilford Washaid HCA 1+4
- 30 min washing in Nova print washer
- 2 min Harman Selen Toner, 1:20
- 10 min Ilford Washaid HCA 1+4
- 30 min washing in Nova print washer
It's quite cumbersome and given to how small my bathroom is, I literally don't have much space for any parallelization, but I'll try to figure out some optimizations. So far I'm really happy that the prints are washed and toned well, without any staining.
Regards,
Vaclav
First of all, big thanks to each one of you for your help and time, I really appreciate that. Sorry about being silent for longer time, I got sick and got really busy at work, but yesterday I was finally able to get back to the darkroom and do some tweaks to my workflow that finally resolved the issue, so maybe some reader from future will also appreciate my results.
First thing, I got the Nova WashMaster Eco 16x12" print washer. I do only 8x10" prints, but despite the size difference, it works wonders, prints are flowing just below the water surface, so retrieving them is a piece of cake.
I think in my case the reason for staining was insufficient washing after fixing and before toning.
This was my original workflow that caused the staining:
- 3 min Ilford Multigrade developer
- 1 min stop bath
- 1 min Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4, 1st bath
- 1 min Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4, 2nd bath
- ~2 minutes rinsing in flowing water, then into bucket of water, waiting for toning
- 2 min Harman Selen Toner, 1:20
- 2 min Adox Thio Clear ECO HCA, 1:10
- final wash
And this is the modified workflow without staining:
- 3 min Ilford Multigrade developer
- 1 min stop bath
- 1 min Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4, 1st bath
- 1 min Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4, 2nd bath
- ~2 minutes rinsing in flowing water, then into bucket of water, waiting for HCA
- 10 min Ilford Washaid HCA 1+4
- 30 min washing in Nova print washer
- 2 min Harman Selen Toner, 1:20
- 10 min Ilford Washaid HCA 1+4
- 30 min washing in Nova print washer
It's quite cumbersome and given to how small my bathroom is, I literally don't have much space for any parallelization, but I'll try to figure out some optimizations. So far I'm really happy that the prints are washed and toned well, without any staining.
Regards,
Vaclav
