Bleaching/Toning question

[Stan160]

Yesterday, I tried toning for the first time using Speedibrews Sepia.

Pleased with the results, one of which will be my contribution to the UK Print Exchange, but I have a question: The instructions seemed to indicate that left long enough, the bleach bath will remove all visible traces of the image. What happened with both prints was that the image faded initially but after a few minutes the fading stabilised with a noticeable image remaining. I tried another 5 minutes of agitation after this state but couldn't see any further change.

As I said, I am happy with the results, but was interested to know if I should expect the bleaching to progress further than it did.

Thanks,
Ian

 

[fidget]

Can't help with your question, but to chip in with my beginners experience of toning, using the Speedybrews Chestnut kit. Toning RC VC paper, MGIV or Cooltone (I was told that this could tone well enough). If I let the image disappear, dropping it in the toner would not bring it back. A brief dunk in the bleach and then a stay in the toner had nice effects. Except that: a year after it was toned, framed and hung on the wall, my effort continues to deepen in colour, in the last 4 months, finger prints have appeared in the middle of the image and they darken faster than the rest.
All very amusing to my family who make a point of gathering round it every now and then to discuss when it will stop changing and just what might appear next.

 

[Bob F.]

I normally end up with a feint yellowish(?) image remaining where the shadows are after fully bleaching. However, I rarely let the bleaching go that far and prefer the result given by taking the print out of the bleach when the highlights have gone but there is still plenty of black in the shadows.

Fidget: a quick check on Silverprint's site says that the Chestnut toner is copper based. As such it is not archival and will change colour over time, hence the interesting effects you are seeing...

Normal sodium sulphide or thiocarbamide/thiourea based sepia toners are considered archival (more so than silver).

Cheers, Bob.

 

[reellis67]

I've tried a couple of bleaches now and they all seem to leave a faint image no matter how long the bleaching stages goes. I think this is normal, as all my results turn out the way I expected them to (well, for the most part!).

- Randy

 

[pentaxuser]

Whilst appreciating that the Chestnut kit isn't archival, it does sound a little worrying that the changes should have ocurred quite as quickly as they have.

I had always assumed that "over time" was longer than a year and the sudden appearance of finger prints has rather put me off trying it.

Should changes as drastic as the thread's originator describes, have occurred to this extent and this quickly? If so, it sounds as if Chestnut toner is strictly for fun only and results in a throw away item. A bit like the inkjet prints I have seen.

pentaxuser

 

[Dave Miller]

Copper and Iron based toners are not long lasting, on RC papers print life may be quite short, on fibre not much longer. I found it essential to avoid touching the paper by anything other than an edge that was trimmed off after processing. The grease from your skin will affect the print at some stage. There are other toners, or combinations of toners that will give similar results, so I no longer use copper or iron.

 

[fidget]

Oh, I should say that they were prints which came out dark, which I decided to experiment with. The finger prints would be mine! I also found that sufficient soaking prior to bleaching was important. I have some prints with areas which are more deeply toned (differences appeared well after toning, weeks) which correspond to the overlap of prints in the soaking tray (laid in 3 minute intervals). I'm sure that most of my copper toned prints have flaws or unstable hues as a result of my sloppy process. I will try again, though.

 

[catem]

On copper toning - I have fibre-based copper toned prints that are several years old (8 or so?) and there is no discernible change. Like everything, it depends very much how you keep them. Copper toning is not as archival as other toners, but I also think it gets a bit of a bad press. I do think it gives a result that you can't quite replicate with other toners (in my experience) but having said that although I enjoyed using it for a while I tend to use other toners at the moment, partly because I went off the colour eventually, partly also because of the greater longevity of other toners. But I still think there's a place for copper toner and would use it again.