Print washing sequence

Making your print in the darkroom
smbooth
Posts: 405
Joined: 29 Jul 2012, 00:20

Print washing sequence

Postby smbooth » 30 Jun 2013, 15:44

What is your washing method when using a hypo wash in the mix (using FB paper). Basically it's out of the fix into a running water wash for 5 min , into the Hypo wash for say 20min then back into the running water for another 5/10min. That's according to the bottle, but my stupid question is are the first wash bath and the last water bath the same container. I have a small slot washer, so I wash in that then put print into Hypo wash (tray) then back into slot washer, fine with one print but after that I'm at risk of contaminating the first washed print with the second, or should I just hold all prints in the slot washer, then pass them each through the HypoWash then back into the slot washer for final wash?

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Maris
Posts: 882
Joined: 27 Jul 2012, 16:02
Location: Noosa

Re: Print washing sequence

Postby Maris » 02 Jul 2013, 15:07

My FB paper archival wash sequence goes like this:

Drain the fix out of the paper by holding it in my tongs over the fixer tray for as many seconds as there are inches in the diagonal dimension. A 8x10 sheet drains in 13 seconds.

The sheet then is placed on the surface of water in a holding tray until sinks either naturally or with a bit of encouragement. The holding tray (for 8x10 work) contains about six litres of water so the carried over fixer experiences a big dilution factor.

When the last sheet goes into the holding tray the stack is turned over and one by one the sheets get drained and submerged in working strength Kodak Hypo Clear.

When the last sheet goes into the Hypo Clear the stack is turned over and one by one the sheets are drained and placed in my Paterson Major Print Washer.

The washer connects to the water tap via a clockwork Tap Timer set at 45 minutes. The wash takes care of itself for those 45 minutes while I do something else: rebottle solutions, rinse trays, that sort of thing.

The washed photographs are put out on screens face up and dry in their own time.

The next day the dry photographs get flattened for 10 to 15 seconds between acid free boards in a drymount press set to 85 Celcius.

I've used this sort of procedure for a long time and even display photographs from the 1970's look as immaculate as the day they were made.

Photomark
Posts: 38
Joined: 16 Jun 2013, 17:43
Location: Central Coast NSW

Re: Print washing sequence

Postby Photomark » 08 Aug 2013, 09:43

for 30x 40 cm and smaller prints I have a Patterson print washer , for larger I have a home made set up with a fish tank air pump and water pump , I generally wash fiber for around 30 mins and I can wash ten 50 x 60cm prints at a time.

I only use rapid fixer and I believe that is a non hypo fixer so I don't bother with hypo clear.

After washing they go into a weak selenium bath for an hour or so followed by another wash until the surface is no longer slippery , generally around 20 mins.

This is only for fiber paper , with RC paper they get a 5 min wash under the tap and that's it


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