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  #1  
Old 14th February 2018, 09:39 PM
John King John King is offline
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Default Spot removal

I have just finished a session in the darkroom and come away with a print or two that half decent. However one of them which I intended to frame has a small black spot right in the middle of the sky. This spot is actually a small bird!

There used to be a spot remover which would bleach out similar blemishes (not Farmers reducer) and after the black spot had gone it was easy to touch in the now white area. It is at least 20 years since I last used it.

I cannot remember what it was but it came in two small bottles, each about 10cc. One was the active spot reducer/remover and the other was a neutraliser. Has anyone any idea what it may have been called and is it still available?

Last edited by John King; 14th February 2018 at 09:42 PM.
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Old 15th February 2018, 09:35 AM
mpirie mpirie is offline
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Isn't it just dilute Farmers Reducer (Potassium Ferricyanide) ?

Another option (if the print will be behind glass) is to use the fine point of a scalpel to remove the emulsion layer at the black spot and retouch accordingly.

Mike
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Old 15th February 2018, 10:18 AM
John King John King is offline
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Default Spot remover

No it isn't Farmer's reducer. It is far more active than that. The action was quite vigorous! When you used it there had to be two brushes, one with the remover and the other with the neutraliser ready to add if the reducing action looked as if the action was going was going too far, too quickly.

I have already spoken to AG Photographic and they used to sell it but they could not remember the name or when they last had any in stock.
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Old 15th February 2018, 10:31 AM
John King John King is offline
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Default Spot remover

I have found out what it was. It was called aptly enough 'Spot Off'. Process supplies also used to sell it but after the factory was damaged it was never brought back into production.

The solution, (no pun intended) is to use Ferricyanide at roughly 4 x the working strength. As it happens I have a new packet which I can use for the 1st time.
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Old 15th February 2018, 01:06 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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I remember using something similar, also in two small bottles, which may have even been the same, that I used at school, to correct writing done with pen ink ie not Biro's. I can't remember it's name though, but wouldn't be surprised if it was the same formula, repackaged for different purposes.

Terry S

PS I've just checked on Ebay UK and found two ads for it:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-S...IAAOSwDEtZ91LE

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-P...EAAOSwUd9ahDH1

Last edited by Terry S; 15th February 2018 at 01:10 PM.
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Old 15th February 2018, 03:38 PM
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Dave Hodson Dave Hodson is offline
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Interesting question and got me wondering. Found an old APUG post from 2005 which led me to this on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Adorama-Black...70_&dpSrc=srch

Doesn't ship to me here in Canada so not sure about UK and at $5.99 from a company called Ez.Dealz. it might be a "use at your own risk" product. The ad references Adorama but I couldn't find anything on their site.

My darkroom books suggest the ferricyanide process you've already identified.

Regards
Dave
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Old 15th February 2018, 04:56 PM
DavidMB DavidMB is offline
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Iodine solution (I in KI) to re-halogenate silver, hypo(sodium thiosulphate) to remove silver. Said to be best to soak print first. The more dilute the Iodine solution the slower it works.

Found one reference Practical Photography 1943- click here

It says can use a drop of 3% ammonia to damp just the spot before using iodine and hypo

Last edited by DavidMB; 15th February 2018 at 05:06 PM. Reason: added link
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