bleaching a toned image

I have a sepia toned print that turned out too dark after all. It's an Ilford MG IV RC print toned with the Kodak Sepia toner. Can I bleach this print with a farmers reducer, say Kodak's? Maybe another bleach? I'm new to toning & bleaching so bear with me if the answer is obvious.

Menno

Welcome to the forum Menno.
If your print was toned to completion the answer is no. Sepia toning protects the silver, and therefore prevents the bleach from working.

spijker said:

Can I bleach this print with a farmers reducer, say Kodak's? Maybe another bleach? I'm new to toning & bleaching so bear with me if the answer is obvious.

Click to expand...

If you didn't bleach to completion you can just try to again bleach it with the bleach from Kodaks Sepia-kit. If you don't like the result put it back into to your print-developer and develop it back to its original state (with a somehow different tone, especially when wet). If you like the result, fix it. This sequence works like farmer's reducer but in a reversible two-step process. Farmer's is just that: bleach and fix in one solution.

If the highlights are to dense it's unlikely that they haven't been toned and can be reversed (highlights are bleached/toned first with the sepia-kit). In this case I'd redo the print. If the shaddows are to dense it is in my view worth a try.

best

Stefan

Thanks for your replies guys. It is a big print (40 x 50 cm) so therefore I was wondering if I could still salvage it. But it looks like I'll just have to re-do it. No big deal.

Menno