gamincurieux
Allowing Ads
Whilst MGIV does not exhibit much of a colour change in Selenenium I have found that Ilford Art 300 does change colour. I was slightly intruiged by this as I undrstood that Art 300 was Ilford MGIV emulsion coated on to Hannemule paper. Attached scans show what I mean. View attachment 59880View attachment 59881View attachment 59882
With Kodak selenium I use it 1:9 with Ilford MGIV RC for 3-4 minutes. This increases dmax and cools the greenish color to a nice neutral slightly cold look. very nice. I would assum the Adox selenium would behave much the same. Give it a shot! You won't be dissapointed.
Thank you very much for the advice everyone, it made me feel that much more confident before having a go. I just had to get myself & my trays/working space organized (trays in this order: fresh water soak -> Ilford Rapid fixer -> Adox Selenium -> water holding bath -> WASH). Armed with a gas mask & nitrile gloves, I mixed the Adox at 1+10. I only needed one print to establish that 4 minutes gave a pleasant result. The pukey 'oliveness' of Ilford MGIV RC was gone & the blacks turned out just as I'd hoped. That's exactly what I wanted!!! I washed each print for at the very least a solid 10 mins..... I simply cannot wash each print for more than that (like 1 hour!!), it's just not gonna happen, my landlord would have an absolute fit! After all, this is RC not FB, so if 10 mins is deemed really not enough then I'll have to look at some kind of chemical-wash aid.
Afterwards I put the Selenium mixture in a concertina'd container for future use.... only thing is, I wouldn't have a clue how much concentrate to add to it for the next session.
I'm a toning convert, so thanks again
Also, I strongly recommend not discarding your toner, but rather replenishing it with small amounts of concentrate when the toning times get too long. The working solutions can be stored almost indefinitely; I have two gallon jugs that have been going for at least 8 years now (more likely 10+ years) and tone just fine. The toning solution needs to be filtered before use, as a black precipitate often occurs, but this is easy; a coffee filter in the funnel and you're set.
Reusing the toner instead of discarding it prevents the toxic selenium from being introduced into the environment. Even municipal water-treatment plants do not deal well with heavy metals. Plus, it is more economical and, as a desired side-effect, the solutions quickly lose the annoying ammonia smell and are more pleasant to deal with. I've been on my soapbox about this for some time here now, so a quick search on my name will turn up more info.
As mentioned, I have been doing this for years now. My fiber-base prints all test excellent for residual hypo and residual silver after two-bath fixing, toning in replenished toner, a 10-minute wash-aid treatment (HCA or equivalent) and a minimum one-hour wash.
Hope this helps,
Doremus
brian steinberger said:... You can re-use the selenium toner for quite a while, just keep it tightly bottled up. No need to replenish with new toner, just use it until it's exhausted (will tone poorly and develop silver flakes) and dump it properly and mix up a new batch.
About keeping the solution I'm just going by what Doremus said... question is, how much replenishment?
So, in that first session I mixed up 2.2 liters at 1+10 and actually only toned approx ten 30x40cm prints @ 4 mins each - that's not much toning really, is it? The solution was then poured into a concertina'd container for storage... given that I only did about ten prints, the solution in the bottle is probably still good to go for a few more prints yet at 4 mins, would you think? Will it be good to go right out of the bottle like that after a month or two, or three? Maybe I should just put in 100mls of concentrate to get it up to speed.... ? I mean, I don't want to put too much in..... when is too much?!
Your toner is good for many more prints. When you get around to toning again, filter the solution through a coffee filter in a funnel before using to remove any possible precipitate.
If you are seeing a change in the image due to toning, and I assume you are, then that is your guide to toner exhaustion. When toning times get too long, simply add 25-30ml of concentrate to your toning solution to replenish.
Best,
Doremus
Nice effect, Adrian, with selenium toner. My favourite out of the three
pentaxuser
I thought Ilford Art 300 was coated with MGWT emulsion.
Roger
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?