Smelly paper

[rodbam]

Gday all
I just received a box of A3+ Ilford Gallerie Smooth Pearl & after my first print I left it on top of the printer to dry & when I came back into the room I could smell something strange, it turned out to be the print. I printed another different shot & it didn't smell so I thought it must be just that one first print but my third print had the same smell. I've done four prints & two have very bad smells, the smell seems to get worse as the ink is drying & seems to get less smelly over a few days. The only way I can describe the smell is calling it a smelly feet smell.
I think it must be in the coatings on the paper as I can't smell anything when I sniff the carts although I did get a bit high I use IS inks & they are less than a year old.
Has anyone experienced this?

 

[fotofreek]

Rod - pictures of garlic or the inside of shoes???? Have your cats given up using the litter box in favor of the top of the printer????

 

[mikling]

Is it Ilford Classic?

 

[ghwellsjr]

OCP ink smells to me like dirty socks.

 

[PeterBJ]

It seems like others have had similar experiences with other brands of photo paper.

Canon paper smells like dead fish: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1003&message=642014&changemode=1 and
Smelly Epson paper, scroll down to post dated October 30, 2010: http://www.amazon.com/Glossy-Ultra-Premium-Photo-Inches/product-reviews/B001441YFQ

I wonder if gelatin is used in production of inkjet photo paper? Some bacteria love that stuff. But as only some prints are smelly, I suspect one ink has gone bad, if for instance only pictures showing a large amount of blue sky are smelly, cyan could have gone bad.

I recently bought some IS dye inks and KMP-U pigment ink from Octoinkjet UK. None of these inks are smelly.

 

[rodbam]

Thanks all Mike the paper is Ilford Gallerie Smooth Pearl not the Classic & so far the ones that have the smell seem to have a lot of darker brown tones & this is my third box of the same paper with this one only having the smell. I've only printed 5 shots so far so this story is in progress as far as a pattern forming. My test prints of the same shots done on cheap Kodak A4 paper don't have any smell so I don't think it's the ink.
After two days of drying the smell is a lot less & you have to have your nose near the print but 10 mins after printing you can smell it a few yards away. I just tried opening the paper box after it has been closed for over 24 hours & I could just make out a slight smell but after the box has been open I can't pick up the smell so the wetness of the printing seems to bring it out either on some sheets only or on some particular colours in the print. All the inks carts smell normal.
Fotofreek I might take a shot of a rose & see if that smells better

 

[pharmacist]

My suspicion the smell is caused by formaldehyde: a preservative and reducing agent, which preserves the color of the print, making the print will last much longer without it.

 

[The Hat]

My suspicion the smell is caused by formaldehyde: a preservative and reducing agent, which preserves the color of the print, making the print will last much longer without it.

I think you could be dead on with your suggestion..

 

[rodbam]

Thanks Pharmacist, as Hat said that sounds like a good explanation. I know formaldehyde preserves body parts well so if it does the same for my prints I will put up with the smell.

 

[mikling]

Does this mean this issue has been put to "REST"?