AUGH!!!! HELPPP!! Toning Oops (don't tell Les)

[BWGirl]

Ok, so I spent the day in the darkroom making the best prints I've ever made from negatives I never thought would print... but now, I've got a REAL problem.

See, I decided I would bite the bullet and try some sepia toning. Well, I got everything set up and suddenly I found myself in the middle of some sort of "Lemony Snicket-esque Series of Unfortunate Events" from hell... I accidentally put a print into the toner.... BEFORE I put it in the bleach! Before I could fish it out of there (hoping for a "do-over") the phone rang and I raced off to answer it. I sort of "forgot" my print floundering in the toner... I am sad to say that it was in the toner about an hour & a half or so before I fished it out and stuck it in water... which is where it is right now.

It's Ilford Multigrade Fiber, and it's sitting in the water. I'd REALLY like to keep it, but this thing was never in the bleach. HELP!!! Is it trash, or is there something I can do???

Thanks in advance for your help!!! (Les may kick me out of future workshops for this boneheaded move.)

 

[Les McLean]

Ok, so I spent the day in the darkroom making the best prints I've ever made from negatives I never thought would print... but now, I've got a REAL problem.

See, I decided I would bite the bullet and try some sepia toning. Well, I got everything set up and suddenly I found myself in the middle of some sort of "Lemony Snicket-esque Series of Unfortunate Events" from hell... I accidentally put a print into the toner.... BEFORE I put it in the bleach! Before I could fish it out of there (hoping for a "do-over") the phone rang and I raced off to answer it. I sort of "forgot" my print floundering in the toner... I am sad to say that it was in the toner about an hour & a half or so before I fished it out and stuck it in water... which is where it is right now.

It's Ilford Multigrade Fiber, and it's sitting in the water. I'd REALLY like to keep it, but this thing was never in the bleach. HELP!!! Is it trash, or is there something I can do???

Thanks in advance for your help!!! (Les may kick me out of future workshops for this boneheaded move.)

Can't you remember that we did this on the workshop Jeanette. Wash the print and put it in the bleach for a while, wash it and then place it in the toner again before giving it a final wash. You must have had your cheese hat on when we did that part of the toning.

 

[Nicole]

Les, I really need your book and and to attend your workshops!!! Coming to Australia by any chance? Dang, it's sometimes so hard being so isolated in paradise.

 

[Claire Senft]

Jeanette this may be worth applying for a patent. Lemonesque you say? Is it in good taste? Wash the print thoroughly, dry it and see if you like it. What do you have to lose? Maybe Scott Edwards was right. Maybe you are a Golden Guernsey and not a Holstein.

 

[photomc]

Jeanette, you are supposed to DO THIS at least once....think the first time I ever tried to tone a print it went from the bleach, right into the toner - remember there is supposed to be a wash there? Don't fret, it will be good practice to print another one anyway to show you how much you learned and that you can produce as many prints like this one...you have been impowered, you have the tools....you have a cheese hat...

BTW Good for you getting into the darkroom and using all those new tools Les gave us...if I'm lucky I will get there on Saturday....fingers crossed....

 

[oriecat]

Ut oh Jeanette, I think he found out.

 

[Nige]

Les, I really need your book and and to attend your workshops!!! Coming to Australia by any chance? Dang, it's sometimes so hard being so isolated in paradise.

funnier things have happened... of course you'll need to come over this side of the country...

BTW Jeanette, once you've used up your Sepia (Kodak I presume), grab a bottle of Agfa Viradon and have a play with that. Apparently it's changed formula recently (I'm still using the old stuff) but it can be used direct tone (no bleach step) or by using a bleach step. Lots of options for altering the final look of your print.

 

[skahde]

the phone rang and I raced off to answer it. I sort of "forgot" my print floundering in the toner

In addition, maybe you should rethink your priorities at least as las long as you don't have a wireless phone in your darkroom. Since when is answering the phone more important than finishing a print?

Stefan

 

[Leon]

I'm probably far wrong .... but isnt this a method described in Tim Rudman's book as "pre-sulphiding" or something very similar ...? I'm at work now so dont have a copy to hand, but I'm sure he says you CAN do this then, as Les says, bleach and re-develop in either the supplied b bath or another developer for interesting effects.

 

[BWGirl]

Thanks for your responses, everyone. Situation back to normal.

Stefan, don't be too harsh... it was an unusual situation for which I am paying dearly.

Despite the sounds of things, I'm not a scatterbrain and this was not a normal situation. Thanks for being such a nice guy, Mike! I'd hug you if I were there.

 

[fhovie]

Telephones and darkrooms - generally not compatible - a good piece of darkroom equipment is an answering machine. Since I am NOT a doctor - nobody dies because I didn't pick it up. That saves a lot of prints.

Notwithwatnding the how .... some of my best work is a serendiptous accident. It is the difference between art and textbook illustration. I read an artical the other day on the proper way to stomp your negs on the floor to get the interesting scratching effect. - PS users pay big bucks for software that immitates what we can get with the happy accident. Maybe your new image will be a candidate for mordancage.