What am I doing wrong?

VirtualAdept

VirtualAdept

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Name
Mads
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Great hive mind of f&c, I implore you to come to my aid once again...
I've been printing on rc paper relatively successfully for a while and got some fibre paper from my secret santa.
Oh yay, I looked forward to using it... I did some reading, some suggesting the fibre paper needs longer exposure, some suggesting longer developing.
I've tried every combination I can think of to no avail... All of my fibre prints come out like this...
For reference I've attached the rc paper too so you can see what the image is supposed to look like.

So, great minds of f&c... What am I ballsing up?
I have tried:
Same exposure same dev as rc
Longer exposure same dev
Same exposure longer dev
Longer exposure longer dev... They all came out very similar to the one I've attached.

Thank you in advance

Mads20200206_220515.jpeg20200206_220513.jpeg
 
Silly question but are you sure you are printing on the correct side?
 
What are the 2 brands of paper, and have you got the tech data sheets for them?
 
Was the box of fibre paper sealed?
 
MatBin said:
Silly question but are you sure you are printing on the correct side?
Click to expand...

I believe so, I'm exposing the shinier side.

Peter B said:
What are the 2 brands of paper, and have you got the tech data sheets for them?
Click to expand...

The RC is Agfa, the fiber is ilford, but I've not got any more details than that. I'll see if the envelope has the name on it

RaglanSurf said:
Was the box of fibre paper sealed?
Click to expand...

Sealed in an original envelope rather than a box, wrapped nicely in lightproof paper.
 
VirtualAdept said:
The RC is Agfa, the fiber is ilford, but I've not got any more details than that. I'll see if the envelope has the name on it
Click to expand...
Could the fibre be single grade rather than multigrade? You could try exposing it without filtration and see what you get. :thinking:
 
Peter B said:
Could the fibre be single grade rather than multigrade? You could try exposing it without filtration and see what you get. :thinking:
Click to expand...

I've tried it without the filter and had much the same effect. I'll try again tomorrow evening.

Thanks for the input guys, I really appreciate it
 
Simon Tickle said:
Are you exposing it in the same easel setup as the rc print? It seems odd that it's fogged right to the edge of the paper and not just in the centre where the exposure is. Is it very old?
Click to expand...

Well spotted, no, the fiber is cut smaller, while I try to figure out how to expose it properly. Does that make sense?
 
Take a small strip of the paper in question ans place it under the enlarger, cover the whole piece of paper with a card thick enough to block the light.

Set the enlarger lens to whatever you normally use and turn on the lamp.

Expose the paper by moving the card so a thin strip is exposed, after 5 seconds move it again and after another 5 seconds move again - you get the idea.

Develop for the recommended time and you should (if you guessed something like correctly) a series of strips of differing density corresponding to the different exposures.

If they are all white or all black adjust the exposure and start again.

Once you get a strip with a useful looking grey that should give you your base exposure time, this is of course without a negative in the enlarger so you may need further testing with a nice even toned well exposed negative.

HTH

David
 
It looks like you are exposing the wrong side of the paper. Take a sheet tear it in half and expose each side and see which one has been exposed.
 
shapeshifter said:
It looks like you are exposing the wrong side of the paper. Take a sheet tear it in half and expose each side and see which one has been exposed.
Click to expand...
#2
 
Rightio, I took a sheet, halved it and exposed at the same time. The side I've been printing on previously had the same almost image as above, where the opposite (non shinyish) side took no detail and the other side of the paper came out like its been exposed to light but no image, so it seems to me I've been using the correct side.
 
#10 is a good idea.
 
You'll get there. You have a negative, an enlarger, paper and chemicals, nothing missing from your list except a bit of trial and error and experience.
 
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