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Beginner -Tetenal sulphide toner

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ajmiller

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I'm a total novice at toning so forgive the simple questions.
I've been given this two-bottle kit which has been opened for some time - I'm not sure how old it is.
(There are no instructions with it and although not too careful I'm reluctant to just dive in - especially when one of the bottles has the 'rotten egg' whiff about it!!)
After been opened after all this time will it still be ok to use?
The dilution on the bottles says 1+4 which I presume is 1 of bleach or toner to 4 of water. Doesn't seem like it will go far. How much is needed for say one print?

Any help appreciated.

- Tony
 
I am used to toners as DIY scratch mixes. If the vendor wants to keep people afraid of DIY's then prepare concentrated stock solutions of the formulae, and have the end user dilute them.

The bleach is likely pottasium ferricyanide (yellow) which will work reused over and over for quite a lot of prints. When it ceases to bleach a print in a reasonable time you know that you are reaching its exhaustion point. It can be over diluted if you are trying to only partially bleach the print and the 1+4 working bath is acting too quickly.

Water wash/rinse the bleached print to get rid of all the yellow stain; I think Kodak recommends 5 minutes.

The toner is a sulphide type, as the box says - and yep they smell like rotten eggs. The other variety use thiorea and don't smell nearly as bad, but thiorea is a bit on the nasty side, and has the potentiall to chemially fog sensitized silver material as well.

Once dilited the sulphide solution will likely tone at least 20 8x10's per litre, and may be stored between toning sessions. (maybe more if it is at all like Kodak's sepia toner). Oh, and you can dilute the toner to greater than 1+4 (yes, your interpretation of the dilution is correct) if you don't want it to tone as fast.

Then wash the print for I think 20 minutes for FB; less (not sure how much) if toning RC paper.

This, and most toners, can be done in full illumination, so if the smell annoys you, do it outside where the ventilation is improved.

I can't recall, but this toner ( as some do) may need prints a bit overexposed or underexposed to get the 'right' look once they have been toned.

So make test prints that are deliberately off, and experiment, and have some fun.

Most FB papers, particularly warm toned ones, provide a more pronounced image tone change better than others such as cooltine FB and RC in general, but I beleive from my past palyings with it that sepia works pretty well on all paper types.
 
If you get very, very, lucky and fall across an affordable copy of "The Photographer's Toning Book: The Definitive Guide" by Tim Rudman, grab it, because it is a great source for toning information. Used copies on the net are very expensive.
 
I normally use the bleach at 1+10 or even more dilute for partial bleaching. 1+4 generally acts very fast and you don´t have so much control. Also keep the toner away from your valuable stocks of paper and film - the fumes can cause fogging. That´s another reason for toning outside.

Pete
 
Thanks all.
@CBG - just checked the price on Amazon - I should be so lucky!! Be good if Dr. Rudman could re-print on Blurb or such like if he owns the copyright! Seems there may be a few takers by what I've read.
I have a book by Tony Worobiec called Toning & Hand Colouring Photographs which I've just started delving into.
@Pete H - thanks for the advice about bleaching at 1+10, useful to know in advance.

- Tony
 
...
I'm a total novice at toning so forgive the simple questions...

Tony

Some toning (selenium or sulfide) is a must for archival print longevity. Also, it give a print the extra 'edge' (hard to explain in words). However, if you have never toned before, you may want to start wit direct and not with indirect toning (bleach and redevelop). You can get selenium toner to do that or just use your sulfide toner without the bleach.
 
Just a couple of additions to Mike's excellent commentary. The rotten eggs smell is hydrogen sulfide, which is quite poisonous in high concentrations. Be sure to always use sulfide toners with plenty of ventilation. Hydrogen sulfide can also fog photographic materials.
 
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