3

Toning

By Elaine O’Neil and Laura Blacklow

Safety

Method Overview

Materials

Tips

Toning the Entire Print

Split Toning

Selective Toning

Tip

3.1  Doug and Mike Starn, Yellow Assumption, 84 × 72 in. (213.36 × 182.88 cm), toner on orthochromatic film, silicon and pipe clamps, 1993.

The twin Starn brothers have been collaborating on artwork for over three decades. In this piece, they first applied Berg Golden Yellow toner to the photographic positive image printed on lith film. They employed clamps and bars to form scaffolding that holds the sheets of film in tension. The clamps force the film panel to bow out in simple arcs formed only by pressure. This visual, physical tension underscores the Starns’ concern with their understanding of “anti-stasis,” while the subject matter and materiality refer to the transformative aspects of the passage of time. (Lith film is described in Chapter 5, Generating Imagery: Analogue Methods)

Toning adds color to a silver-based image, such as a gelatin silver black-and-white photograph, enlargement emulsion print (see Chapter 14), Van Dyke brown print (see Chapter 8), salted paper print (see Chapter 9), or graphic arts/lith film transparency (see Chapter 5), by immersion in, or the selective application of, chemical agents. This process can be performed in ordinary room light as an added step after the print has been completely processed and thoroughly washed. The type of enlarging paper emulsion, or the substrate itself, in combination with the processing time, temperature, dilution, and age of the chemicals used for processing the print, will cause variations in color and affect the finished appearance of each toned image. Therefore, consistency in the making of the original prints and toning afterward is imperative if uniform results are desired.

Historically, commercial gelatin silver black-and-white photographic papers were available with silver chloride, silver bromide, and chlorobromide emulsions. Silver chloride paper, which renders an image in tones that vary from quite cool to slightly warm, has a very slow emulsion and is generally used for contact printing. Lodima Fine Art (http://lodima.org) manufactures and distributes silver chloride paper as well as Amidol developer in the United States. Photographers’ Formulary’s Amidol paper developer is alkaline-based, and the prints resulting from it are similar to those obtained using Weston’s Amidol Paper Developer—cold tones and deep blacks.

At the time this edition was ready for print, there was one importer of silver chloride contact printing paper, and it seemed that silver bromide enlargement printing papers, which gave cool tone blacks, are no longer manufactured. However, chlorobromide enlargement papers are readily available from a number of companies in both fiber-based and resin-coated varieties. Often it is ivory or a white paper, rather than emulsion design, which gives the image a warm or cool tone.

Three different groups of toners will be described in this chapter. The first group contains toners which replace the metallic silver in the print with inorganic salts, changing black areas to other colors. The second group, called color coupler toners, plate the silver with a color dye. The third group, dye toners, give a uniform color to both image and paper.

Toners in the first group convert metallic silver into other insoluble substances, creating new colors in the image areas but leaving the paper unchanged. An added benefit of these toners is that the emulsion is protected from pollutants, which extends print life. Obtainable colors range from a slight brown, blue, or purple tinge to bright pinks or reds, with the more vibrant variations usually produced by using the toners in conjunction with one another. The image alters in relation to its density (the amount of silver buildup or darkness); some solutions tone the highlights first, while others begin to color the print’s shadows. Split toning takes advantage of this characteristic by stopping the toning process prematurely when the highlights and shadows are different colors. Some photographers use two different toners, one after another, creating one color in the highlights, another in the shadows, and sometimes a third in the mid-tones.

Color coupler dyes also attach to the silver of the image and leave the paper base white. Because the dyes are not dramatically affected by variations in chemistry, time, and temperature during the initial processing of the print, you can anticipate with some certainty what color the toner will impart. The major drawback of these toners is that the dyes lack stability and can fade with prolonged exposure to light.

Generally, dye toners color both the image and the base on which it is printed. However, Laura has used Berg (see Supply Sources), a company that makes the Color-Tone Professional Multi-Color Toning Kit for Black and White Prints or Transparencies with an activator and colors such as red, blue, yellow, green, and violet, and, purchased separately, Clearing Solution for Color Toning White Restoration, which Laura has used. The distributor’s website is http://www.omegabrandess.com/products/Toning-Products-Berg/CS. The result ranges from a light tint to a highly saturated color. These toners can be used alone or as an additional color in a print toned with one or more of the toners described above. The entire print can be toned, or color can be selectively added to the picture in a number of ways. Toners may be applied to specific areas with a brush or spray bottle, or parts of the print may be masked before the print is placed into the toning solution. Careful notes will aid in the development of personal methods for controlling color across the surface of a print.

SAFETY

Before starting to work with any toner, carefully read the manufacturer’s instructions, note precautions, and follow the safe-handling guidelines.

Most toners give off a disagreeable odor and some can, particularly in accidental combination with common darkroom chemicals, give off a toxic gas, e.g., selenium will emit toxic fumes when contaminated by concentrated acids, such as stop bath. Toning must be done in a well-ventilated area, which means ten complete changes of air per hour, and that the exhaust is pumped outside the building. Selenium toner and sulfide toners, such as Polytoner, should only be used under local exhaust. Or, work outdoors.

Selenium is a skin and eye irritant and can cause kidney damage. Gold can produce allergic reactions and asthma, especially in fair-haired people. So, wear gloves and goggles.

With two-bath toners, such as sulfide toners, make sure you rinse the print well after bleaching and before dipping it in the sulfide developer.

In order to prevent any accidental mixing of chemicals on the print, thoroughly wash photos before toning.

Do not inhale powdered chemicals. Wear an appropriate mask.

Add acids to water, not water to acids.

3.2  Emmet Gowin, Alluvial Fan, Natural Drainage near the Yuma Proving Ground and the Arizona-California Border, 9 × 9 in. (24.4 × 24.4 cm) Kodak Poly-Toner on Agfa Portriga Rapid paper, 1988. ©Emmet and Edith Gowin. Courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York.

The artist explained that he employed a short toning time followed by a long wash. Unfortunately, Agfa papers no longer are available; it was a warm-toned fiber paper with rich silver emulsion, and rather than using filters to change the contrast, it was graded.

Contact with the toners can cause allergic reactions, contact dermatitis, and even poisoning. Neoprene gloves must be worn. Immediately rinse off any toning solution that splashes onto the skin. Toning solutions can permanently stain clothing.

Contact your local poison center immediately should you ingest any of the toners.

Discuss your plans to continue your photographic work during pregnancy with your doctor.

When disposing the solutions used for toning, flush the sink basin and drain with water after pouring out each chemical. Selenium is considered a hazardous waste. Check the facilities within your local areas or contact a waste disposal company. The equipment you use also can become stained; therefore, you might want to have a separate setup for toning. Commercially available tray cleaners may remove some of the stains, but thoroughly wash the trays and flush the sink and drain before you apply cleaners, or you may create toxic fumes.

METHOD OVERVIEW

1.  For selective toning, a mask or frisket can be applied to cover up part of the print.

2.  Print is presoaked for at least ten minutes (30 seconds for resin-coated paper).

3.  Print is immersed in the toner, or toner is applied to selected areas.

4.  Print is cleared, washed, and dried. Mask is removed.

5.  For multiple toning, the clearing bath in Step 4 is omitted, but the print is thoroughly washed, and Steps 3 and 4 are repeated.

MATERIALS

1. Image

Most conventional photographic papers will tone to some degree, but the most dramatic results will be obtained by using a chloride paper like Lodima. Not sensitive enough for use under an enlarger, the recommended light sources for contact printing are either an incandescent R-40 300 light bulb or an ultraviolet light with the enlarged negatives or photograms described in this book (see Chapter 5, Generating Imagery: Analogue Methods and 6, Making Negatives: Digital Method). Developed in Amidol they produce quite cool to slightly warm prints. Purchase information and instructions can be found at http://lodima.org and at Photographers’ Formulary.

Enlargement Emulsions (see Chapter 14), Bergger Prestige and Silver Supreme Photo Paper, a limited quantity of Kentmere Fine Print Variaable Contrast Glossy manufactured in the U.K., Ilford Ilfobrom Galerie and Multigrade IV Deluxe, and Oriental Seagull Warm Tone Variable Contrast Glossy Paper are known to tone well. Resin-coated (RC) papers can be toned, but they do not react in the same way as fiber-based papers, so refer to the instructions packaged with the toner before you start. Note that Berg does make a Rapid Sepia/RC toner for use with resin coated (RC) or fiber papers. RC paper cannot be left to soak so tone, wash, and dry each print separately. Both the printing and toning processes require constant care so that the prints are not bent or cracked. You will benefit from making test strips, test prints, and finished prints of each image.

Different toners best serve photographs with different characteristics. For instance the metal replacement toner Berg Brilliant Blue works best with a slightly light print, while Sepia, Green, and Copper/Red toners require one that is somewhat dark. Split tones, where the mid-tones partially change to a warm red-black from selenium, are best obtained by using moderately high-contrast negatives on a low-contrast grade of paper to render a print with a normal, but punchy, tonal range. Experimentation will be needed to find correct paper, and tonal range that best works with the tendencies of the toner you have chosen.

The type of chemistry, time in the processing solutions, and temperature of the chemistry when making the original photograph will affect both the overall color and the intensity of a split in color. Developers vary the hue, contrast, and tonal range or emulsions. Any developer can be used with any photographic paper to yield results which will be judged as more or less acceptable. Each combination will give a different result when toned; in addition, changing the dilution or temperature of the developer or fixer prior to processing the print will further influence the final effect of the toner on the print. Using fresh developer and fixer will help ensure a crisp, rather than muddy, print and keep the highlights clean after toning. To experiment with what kind of photograph will render the best toning results, make prints using two or three different exposures. All toned photographs look different when they dry, so keep notes in pencil beyond the image area on the back of the print of all the variables you employed. Laura tones one picture at a time, partially blots dry the back of the photograph and writes information with a black permanent felt-tip marker. Elaine numbers the dry paper with a pencil, then writes the records for that print in a notebook.

To avoid mottling the paper base when you later tone the photo, use fresh stop bath at the recommended dilution for the proper amount of time. Elaine always uses two fixing baths, each for five minutes, in order to prevent the formation of compounds that can lead to staining and a less-permanent print. (This is particularly important with blue toners). Fixers can be mixed to different strengths that will have some effect on color, but no matter what fixer or dilution you use, do not over-fix the print. Fixer without hardener will result in a print that will tone more rapidly and evenly, with fuller tones, than prints hardened prior to toning. Fixers available at the date of this edition include Kodak Rapid Fix without the addition of the hardening solution in the B bottle, Ilford II powder or Ilford II powder or Ilford Rapid Fix liquid, and Sodium Thiosulfate (Hypo), available from Photographers’ Formulary. Please note: with enlargement emulsions (Chapter 14), the manufacturers usually recommend eliminating stop bath and using two trays of fixer with hardener.

Adequate washing is imperative. Traces of fixer in the photo or print can cause uneven toning. The advisability of using Hypoclear or Fixer Remover before toning varies from toner to toner, so read the instructions packaged with both the paper and toner before you process the prints. Laura uses Berg Bath™ Hypo Eliminator after fixing and after each toning bath to keep the prints clean. If a tray is used for the final wash the water must be changed periodically. If either a tray or a tray-and-siphon is used for washing, the prints must be constantly agitated by sliding the bottom print out and laying it on the top to ensure that they are completely free of chemical residue. If you are not sure whether you fixed or washed enough, redo those steps. Prints processed with different toners must not be washed together.

Van Dyke brown prints (see Chapter 8) and salted paper prints (see Chapter 9) contain silver and can be toned. Proper sizing of the paper, as described on pages 89–91, can prevent an unevenly sized surface or fibrillation of silver nitrate in the fibers of the paper that might cause staining. Van Dyke brown prints can be toned prior to fixing; this process is described later in this section under Gold Toner for the Printing-Out Process. In general, the toning process will affect the density of a Van Dyke brown print, so based on the information given previously for black-and-white paper, start with an image that is either lighter or darker than normal.

2. Toners

Selenium, Sepia Redevelopment, Thiourea, and Polysulfide are some of the toners that convert silver to other substances, thus increasing the stability of the print. Gold toners provide stability by plating the silver molecules with gold.

Toners which replace the metallic silver in the print include Copper, Blue, Yellow, Red, and Green. The toners in this group provide little to no protection of the image. As the investigation into the affects of toning are begun, there are number of suppliers including Kodak, Ilford, and Fotospeed (which also sells almost all supplies and equipment for analogue), Berg, and The Photographers’ Formulary prepackaged products, whose merchandise will create a wide range of colors. Macodirect (macodirect.de) in Germany sells Rollei Silenia.

If you decide on a specific paper and toner combination, you may wish to mix toners from raw chemicals to save money. Formulas appear online and in many photographic publications. Used copies of an excellent resource, The Photo Lab Index, (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Morgan and Morgan) can be found for sale online. Processing Chemicals and Formulas for Black-and-White Photography (Kodak professional data book, number J-1), from 1973, is online as a PDF file at http://www.bonavolta.ch/hobby/files/Kodak%20j-1.pdf and as a used booklet. On the website for Photographers’ Formulary (see Supply Sources), you also can purchase the components. If you are unfamiliar with mixing raw chemicals, learn about safe handling and mixing techniques before you start to work.

Treat enlargement emulsion prints (Chapter 14) just as you would conventional prints, but remember that the surface may be more delicate, so extra care must be taken to avoid damaging the emulsion—we use hardener in the fixers and take that factor into account when we tone.

To start, read the instructions packaged with a given toner, tone a print that way, and then begin your variations. Do not exceed the capacity listed in the instructions for the toner you have chosen. Often the toner continues to work in the wash water, so remove the print from the toner before it becomes the color you want.

The following general guidelines tell you what to expect when a specific toner is used on a photograph, an enlargement emulsion print, or a Van Dyke brown print. These are suggestions for where to begin experimentation, and are not to be taken as a complete list of possibilities.

Selenium Toner may improve image permanence, can deepen the blacks if used for a short time, or turns a print purple-black if left to soak for an extended period. Some papers mentioned above will split, with the shadows and midtones turning reddish brown and the highlights remaining silvery gray. For a tone change, dilute 1 part toner with 3 to 19 parts of water; if split tones are desired, try a dilution of 1:7 to start. Toning should occur in 2–8 minutes at 68°F (20°C). Presoaking a photograph in very warm water before toning, and then toning in a 1 part selenium to 7 parts water (or stronger) dilution of selenium, and washing afterward in warm water, may quicken and dramatize its effect. Do not heat the toner, because a toxic fume is released.

Selenium toner will increase the contrast of a Van Dyke brown print and change its color to a purplish brown. After exposure, rinse the print until the water is clear rather than milky. Place the print in the toner. Watch for a split in tones between the highlights and shadows, pull the print from the toner, then fix and wash as usual. Try a dilution of at least 1:20, and watch the print carefully as toning occurs rapidly and pales the print.

The distinctive image colors in the two prints in Figures 3.3 and 3.4 are the result of the tonal ranges of the negatives and the difference in bleaching time.

3.3  Elaine O’Neil, Munich, Germany, 18 × 12 in. (20.32 × 30.48 cm), Sepia toned Kodak Poly-Fiber paper (two-bleach method). ©1977.

3.4  Elaine O’Neil, Common Emu, British Museum, London, 18 × 12 in. (30.48 × 20.32 cm), Sepia toned Kodak Poly-Fiber paper (two-bleach method). ©1977.

Sepia Redevelopment Toner will impart a warm brown color to the image. This toner requires the use of a bleach bath to prepare the silver in the print to accept the toner, and only the silver that has been affected by the bleach will change color. Because the bleach attacks the highlights first, the length of time in the bleach bath can be varied to achieve differing results. Bleaching for 5–20 seconds before toning will produce a warm brown/cold black split, while bleaching until the image disappears completely before toning will render a brown and white print. Because the bleach works quickly, Elaine sometimes dilutes it beyond the manufacturer’s recommendations. Then Elaine washes and examines the print before placing the photograph in the toning bath. After toning, the print may be partially bleached again after the toning bath, carefully washed, and toned in another color, such as Gold 231, available through Photographers’ Formulary. Or the bleach alone with no subsequent toning bath may be used to alter the look of a print. Note that after a second bleach, all traces of yellow must be washed away, and the print should be fixed and washed, placed in a hypo-clearing bath, and washed for the time recommended by the paper manufacturer.

3.5  Elaine O’Neil, Tiger Balm Garden, Hong Kong, 16 × 23 in. (40.64 × 58.42 cm), Sepia toned Kodak Poly-fiber paper (two-beach method). ©1987.

3.6  Elaine O’Neil, Air China Ticket Office, Hong Kong, 16 × 23 in. (40.64 × 58.42 cm). Kodak Poly-toner (dilution 1:32) on Kodak Elete paper. ©1987.

Mix the toner and bleach according to the directions on the package, and take care not to contaminate the two solutions with one other.

A short time in toner and long wash method was employed. Using these methods, both affect the white areas of a print first. In these two pictures, it is evident that Sepia has affected every silver molecule, white the effect of Poly-toner is only seen in the highlights.

Kodak Poly-Toner has been discontinued, but in 2005 Kodak published the formula and instruction for this Sepia/Selenium toner. A downloadable file of Mixing and Using a Substitute for Kodak Poly-toner (CIS-268) can be found at the following url: http://imaging.kodakalaris.com/sistes/prod/files/files/recources/CIS268.pdf. The selenium powder required is available from chemical supply companies. Given the toxicity of some of the ingredients, and unless you are familiar with working with raw chemicals, we recommend that you begin with a commercial toner such as Photographers’ Formulary Polysulfide Toner, which will give a similar effect. After Van Dyke brown prints have been fixed, Polysulfide can be used to reduce contrast and shift the color to a warm yellow-brown. When making the print, give it extra exposure to compensate for the bleaching action of the toner.

3.7  Elaine O’Neil, Moslem Quarter from Damascus Gate, Jerusalem, 4 × 5 in. (10.16 × 12.7 cm), untoned Van Dyke Brown print in Rives BFK printmaking paper, exposed using black light ultraviolet exposure unit. ©1983.

3.8  Elaine O’Neil, Moslem Quarter from Damascus Gate, Jerusalem, 4 × 5 in. (10.16 × 12.7 cm), gold toned Van Dyke Brown on Rives BFK printmaking paper showing shift in tone and increased contrast, exposed using black light ultraviolet exposure unit. ©1983.

Photographers’ Formulary Polysulfide Toner renders colors that range from the cold black of selenium through the warm brown of sepia, and past that to orange. A chart on the Formulary website (see Supply Sources) shows how to dilute the toner and amount of time needed to produce the color wanted.

Chapter 4, Creating the Photo-Printmaking Studio, describes how to build an ultraviolet, black light fluourescent exposure unit.

Gold Toner 231, Tetenal Gold Toner, and Berg Protective Gold Toner will produce delicate to rich blue-blacks in a previously untoned print or can be used after sepia toning to get brilliant reds or split tones. Be sure to wash the print thoroughly and, to conserve the gold in the toner, cut away any excess exposed print area prior to toning. Instructions for Formulary 231 and Berg Protective Gold Toner are included in the packages.

Formulary Gold Toner for the Printing-Out Process is an excellent toner for increasing the contrast and intensifying the shadow areas of a Van Dyke brown print when used before the print is fixed. Although pre-coated printing out paper no longer can be purchased, Salt Prints, Chapter 9, page 189, explains how to make your own. The toner can be mail-ordered from the Photographers’ Formulary and includes mixing instructions. After exposure, rinse the print until the water is clear rather than milky, trim the exposed edges of the print to conserve the gold, and place the print in the toner. Watch for a split in tones between the highlights and shadows, pull the print from the toner, then fix and wash as usual.

Copper Brown Toners produce a much more reddish brown than sepia. Many brands, such as Berg Brown/Copper Toner liquid and Photographers’ Formulary Copper Toner powder, are readily available in the US. Tetenal Copper and Speedibrew’s (powder) Copper toners are available through Silverprint, UK (listed in the Supply Sources). When non-hardening fixer is used to process the photograph, the image will turn completely brown, but when a hardening fixing bath is used it will split to copper shadows and gray highlights, particularly when Ilford paper is used. Mix and use according to the instructions packaged with the toner, but for split tones you may want to remove the print from the toner prematurely, because it continues to tone as it washes. If you have a problem with pink staining on the print, some photographers recommend adding a few grams of potassium citrate to the toning solution. Mixing from powders requires safety precautions, such as goggles and a mask. See blue toners, next, about reversing the color.

Berg Brilliant Blue, Tetenal Blue, Speedibrews (powder) Blue and Prussian Blue, and Porcelain Blue Toners, which will give you a bright blue image equal in intensity to a cyanotype, work best with a print that is lighter than normal. (Actually, many blue toners are made from 1 part cyanotype A and a bit more than 1 part cyanotype B, as described in Chapter 7, plus 60 parts water, and 7 parts 28 percent acetic acid.)

A solution of black-and-white photographic paper developer diluted three or even more times more than the manufacturer recommends will reverse the effect of either copper or brilliant blue toner. Laura suggests 1 part developer to 20 parts of water so that the redevelopment is slower and you can pull the print for a partially toned effect or put it in another toner. With either method, a partially redeveloped print immediately should be put in stop bath, then water, but not fixer. A print can be selectively redeveloped by brushing developer onto chosen areas or coating the area to remain unchanged with a masking agent/frisket. Before the print is immersed in any liquid, apply the frisket with a 000 watercolor brush; after the print is completely dry, you remove the frisket merely by lightly rubbing it off. Wash the frisket off the brush before it dries on the bristles. Rubber cement frisket needs solvent to clean the brush. Painter Liz Awalt recommends that you use watercolor wash-out tape when securing fragile papers, because it will not lift up when saturated but you can remove it without harming your work. So, you can also use it like a frisket that resists the coating if you are trying to make an area that shows the paper and not the emulsion.

Rockland Halo Chrome converts the photographic image to a metallic silver-and-white or black-on-silver print. Specific instructions are packaged with the toner. Combine it with dye toners, described below, to produce silver-on-color pictures. It is not recommended for use on enlargement emulsion prints.

Color Coupler Toners include Edwal Color Toners and the Fotospeed Color Toning System. Edwal Color Toners come in red, yellow, blue, green, and brown. In the darkroom before toning, a fixer clearing agent should be used to ensure that the prints are completely free of fixer. Blue toner must not be mixed with other colors. However, new colors can be created by mixing the other toners together before use. Another way to achieve intermediate colors is to use the toners one after the other, allowing each new toner to change the color of the previous toning layer. To avoid contaminating one color with another, be sure to wash the print well between toning baths. Dilute the toners according to the directions, and use immediately.

Rockland Polytoner and Berg Color Toning System (not to be confused with the previously described Berg toners) also come in a wide range of colors and can be used like the Edwal toners described above. One advantage the Berg system has over the Edwal toners is that the Berg is packaged with an activator that helps prevent color from appearing in the white areas of the print. Berg includes a clearing solution, and colors can be reversed.

Dye Toners include the Rockland Printint Colorants, Fotospeed Antique Dye (brown), and the Fotodye Kit. Printint comes in red, yellow, and blue and can be mixed to make other colors. Both Printint and Antique Dye stain the paper. They can be used as a bath to tone the entire print or can be applied with a brush. However, they may not be suitable for selective toning using a masking agent, because the paper base is susceptible to the action of the toner. Selective toning of the emulsion without staining the paper can be done with an 11 color Fotodye Kit. Do not wash the print after using these products.

All these toners can be used separately or sequentially, but the silver-converting toners are most effective in the following order: sepia, poly, copper, selenium, gold. They should be used before toners from the color coupler group, and either group should be used prior to the dye toners. Laura’s students have created greens in mid-tones by using sepia or Berg Blue first, then Berg Copper. We have gotten purples from Berg copper before blue. Ilford and Fotospeed additionally suggest that sepia and then selenium produce brown purples, selenium and then gold produce purplish blue mid-tones, and blue before selenium creates blue shadows and buff highlights. The print must be thoroughly washed between toning baths to prevent the contamination of one toner with another.

3. Trays

You will need at least three trays: one for holding wet prints prior to toning, one for the toning solution, and one for washing the print after toning. You may need more trays for other toners, print developer, or stop bath. Prints toned in different toners cannot be washed in the same tray, as the toners will migrate from print to print.

The trays must be made of glass, plastic, or enamel and bear no chips or cracks. Metal trays will react to the toning solution and should be avoided. Dish pans can be substituted for photographic trays, but obviously they never can be used in the kitchen again. In order to avoid uneven toning, the tray must be large enough to accommodate the entire print. The trays often get stained by the toners and can contaminate prints. These stains can be removed using commercial tray cleaners after all traces of toner have been washed away and the drain has been flushed with water.

4. Masking/Frisket Material

Many art supply companies, such as Winsor and Newton, Speedball, Grafix, Dr. Ph. Martin’s, or Grumbacher make products that can be used to mask areas of a dry print before toning and are easily removed when the print has dried. Laura likes the Martin’s and the Grafix White Mask Liquid because it can be seen after they have been applied. Please see Chapter 4, page 93, Creating the Photo-Printmaking Studio, for further explanations about other friskets.

Rubber cement is readily available and inexpensive. However, its transparency makes it difficult to see during application, and its consistency makes it difficult to control. These disadvantages multiply when one is trying to mask in a precise and detailed manner. A solution is to mix equal parts of acid-free rubber cement and rubber cement thinner with a few drops of red food coloring prior to use. Rubber cement thinner is also useful for cleaning the brush/applicator, although removing the mask from paper simply entails letting the print completely dry and lightly rubbing it off.

For precise masking, use a 000 (triple zero) brush and magnifying glass or desk lamp. Wash the brush immediately afterward, as masking fluid dries quickly.

5. Applicators

Inexpensive watercolor brushes, cotton swabs, or sponges can be used to apply a mask to the print prior to toning and to prepare selective areas to tone. Because brushes may be ruined during these processes, use cheap ones. If you intend to use a brush with a metal ferrule to selectively apply toner, coat the ferrule with rubber cement beforehand as a protective measure. Japanese Bamboo Sumi and Hake painting brushes are excellent because they lack a metal band, but Hake brushes can be somewhat expensive.

6. Water

Running water near the toning area is required for presoaking, washing the print, and for the immediate removal of any splashes or spills. Because impurities and high mineral content in tap water may prevent prints from toning evenly, distilled water is helpful when mixing toner chemistry.

In addition, some photographers pre-soak their prints in a solution of 1 tablespoon balanced alkali and 32 oz. (1 L) distilled water, rather than plain tap water, because they claim that the photo paper accepts the toner better when it has a neutral acidity. Wear a respirator with toxic dust filter, gloves, and goggles when mixing the powder, and keep your hands and eyes protected when using the solution. Do not ingest.

7. Vapor mask and protective gear

When mixing powders, such as certain toners or balanced alkali, you will need a toxic dust filter on the mask, goggles, and gloves.

8. Miscellaneous

Pencil or marker pen, 16 oz. (500 ml) or larger graduates, mixing rods, tongs, a sheet of glass with sanded edges or Plexiglas™ to rest the print on when selectively applying toner, a print squeegee, a darkroom thermometer, a tray siphon or print washer from a photography store, and brown bottles to hold 32 oz. (1 L) or more fluid. Paper towels are needed to blot the back of the print so that technical notes can be written.

TIPS

Most commercially made photos are ink on paper prints; thus they contain no silver and cannot be toned.

As indicated in the Materials section, not all toners are suitable for each of the three methods listed above; therefore, first use a test print to check the activity of the toner and the final color. If you like the result, repeat exactly what you did with the test print. Notes that itemize all the steps a particular print has been through should be made on the back of each print using a pencil or permanent marker such as a Sharpie.

It is often helpful to place a wet, untoned print, made on the same paper as the prints to be toned, next to the tray of toner. Because the action of some toners will not be apparent until change is radical, the use of a comparison print will help you to see subtle changes in color.

To eliminate the green tint from the black in a black-and-white photograph, increase the lifespan of your photograph, and clean up the highlights, dissolve 1 part liquid selenium toner in 11 parts Heico Perma-wash™ or other fixer remover. After exposing, develop the print normally but use a fixer without hardener as the package directs. Quickly transfer one print at a time to a tray of toner and Perma-wash™. With constant agitation and under good lighting, tone the print until the whites clear up and the blacks turn purplish. Pull the photograph out, place it in a tray of wash water, and wash normally. Use with adequate ventilation, and, if selenium toner gets on the skin, flush the area with water.

You can tint (change the color of the emulsion and the paper substrate) with medicinal and food colors. The skin of Bermuda onions, after boiling in water, make a purple liquid; regular onions treated similarly and brewed coffee or tea yield browns. After any of these tinting liquids have cooled to room temperature, pour the fluid in a photo tray and immerse your photograph with gentle agitation until you achieve the desired color. A few drops of iodine in water make a yellow tinting agent, while mercurochrome handled in the same way produces red. A bath of red wine imparts pink to red hues.

Persistent yellow stains can be removed in a properly washed blue-toned print. Make a tray of 1 tablespoon table salt diluted in 1 qt. (1 L) water and pass the print quickly through it or use a cotton swab soaked in this solution in the effected areas. Rinse the whole print again. Manufacturers also advise an 80 percent solution of acetic acid on a cotton ball to remove residue scum, but rinse the print after using this mixture.

Kentmere, Bergger Prestige, Ilford, and Seagull manufacture double-weight, black-and-white fiber paper in rolls, which is handled normally in the darkroom. Ilford offers the most numbers of surfaces, contrasts, and paper base color. At the Museum School, we tipped the head of an adjustable enlarger and, with the beam of light parallel to the floor, the image can be projected onto paper pinned into a wall. Mural printing necessitates two people; one person stands at the enlarger and manipulates it while the other person stands at the wall and, on a blank sheet of paper within the image area, uses a magnifying loupe to see the grains of silver while communicating directions for focusing the image. In addition, we employed a system of plant troughs, available from a garden center or DIY store, for the chemicals. The paper is rolled up before processing, then unrolled into the tray of chemicals. While being processed, the print is rolled and rerolled continually. Two people rolling the paper back makes agitating much easier. After the image was dried on a clothes line, it could be torn, toned, or drawn onto with artists’ colored pencils and other media (see Hand Coloring, Chapter 2)

TIP

Masking is a good way to maintain white edges on the paper.