Using film developer for paper

[Winston Chang]

I'm curious to hear if anyone out there has had experiences with developing phot ographic paper in film developers, and what differences there are in the final r esult. The main reason I ask is because I saw the formula for Gainer's Vitamin C Film Developer, which is extremely simple and inexpensive to mix, and seems to bee less toxic and allergenic than other developers out there. I'm most intere sted in this particular developer, of course, but I'm also interested in hearing about other developers. Side question: does anyone out there know how long the shelf life of this develo per is?

[William Leviit]

I think Dektol can be used for paper and film.

[David VanMeter]

I tried Pyro once on a cheap Ilford RC paper and got the most interesting greenish tint prints. I have not done anything else with this though.

[Chad Jarvis]

It can definitely be done, but many artists, Sally Mann comes to mind as notable, use "spent" film developer to be able to control very precisely the effects they are trying to achieve. I know weak or spent D-76 can be used with good results. Try toning in tea...preferably Earl Grey.

[David A. Goldfarb]

There ain't nuthin' in the world that somebody else hasn't already thought of. Read this (http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/text-coffee.html).

[TAN K H]

You can use Rodinal like that to good effect. Agfa used to sell it as a dual purpose developer.

It's all a matter of testing and taste?