View Full Version : Varnishing/Sealing Wet Prints?

23-Apr-2013, 10:34
Last night, I developed my first Harman Direct Positive. Only my first attempt, but I noticed that for the first hour of drying, the highlights had a distinct pink cast to them (think, sunset). After some time, they faded to white as expected. I am wondering, is it possible to varnish or seal a print while it is still damp (say 45 minutes into drying), or will I just end up with moldy mess in a plastic case?

Here is the image I would like to arrest:

Thanks... I will give it a try and let you know what happens at some point, even if there's no relevant feedback here.

Drew Wiley
23-Apr-2013, 11:23
Yess a Mess

Greg Davis
23-Apr-2013, 11:37
You would be better off hand tinting or copper toning to get the color after the fact.

Kimberly Anderson
23-Apr-2013, 13:56
The pink color is from improper fixing. Fix these prints for at least twice as long as you'd fix regular FB paper. If it's still pink, it ain't fixed long enough.

23-Apr-2013, 14:15
Interesting... The fixer was a touch could, but I fixed for close to three minutes just in case. Ilford's whitepaper recommends only one minute when using Ilford Rapid Fixer (1+4), so I thought that'd be safe. Any thoughts on why it shifted away from pink as it was drying?


Randy Moe is using the same Dev/Stop/Fix combination and he reported that he's experienced the same until after an extensive wash.

23-Apr-2013, 14:46
I do know the undeveloped paper does have a red/magenta color cast to it--which I'd assumed is some sort of dye mixed in with the emulsion maybe to make the it respond more like a panchromatic material. Using standard Kodak fixer I haven't run into the paper ever coming out of the fix still pink. But I'd agree that it was some probably some combination of not fixing it long enough, the fix temperature was too cold, or the fixer was somewhat exhausted (assuming it wasn't mixed fresh). It's also possible the prints come out of the fix pink due to the inherently shorter fix times with rapid fixers. Maybe the pink dye just doesn't have enough time to wash out completely during that shorter fix period? And that might also explain why Randy's prints clear after extensive wash times (although if they were my prints, I'd make sure they cleared in the fix.)

As for the shift from pink to white during drying, my guess would be that's because, when wet, the paper is translucent so you're able to see the accumulated effect of the pink that's present throughout the paper. As it dries the paper becomes more opaque, and you see the just the light being reflected off it's surface. One way to test that hypothesis would be to get the prints wet again and see if they change back to a pink color.

23-Apr-2013, 16:13
Makes sense, I am still able to see it, it just isn't as pronounced. I will give it 5 minutes next time. Thanks for the input, all!