do you tone RC prints?

[Chuck_P]

By no means can anyone claim that RC prints exhibit the same life expectancy as properly processed and framed fiber based prints. For most people, such performance is not a concern.

My reason for using selenium on my RC is for a bit of deepening of the paper's Dmax and that slight shift toward a cooler somewhat purplish hue. I can see that on fb paper that I've printed before. Since getting my darkroom going again I'm using just RC as I get back into the swing of things with printing, and so I want that same look with RC, maybe it's not possible. I toned an RC print in selenium 1+7 over the weekend but not much change, that's why I was wondering if a stronger solution would benefit, I'll try 1+3 as someone previously stated. Any longevity benefit would be a bonus.

 

[MattKing]

Ctein's observations in his book are accurate, but his conclusions reflect the "what is not yet known" state of affairs about 12 - 15 years ago.
The bronzing issue seems to be related to particular modes of storage and/or presentation.
Like most who have RC prints that are decades old, I have older RC prints that still appear pristine. Some of them on the early versions of Kodak Polycontrast RC, an otherwise extremely mediocre paper.
My printing volume increased considerably about 18 years ago - when I signed into APUG - and almost everything printed since then is on RC. As I leaf through my hundreds of prints - either stored in bins or in mats or framed behind glass on the wall - the only ones that show any sign of degradation are a few where I was experimenting with different types and combinations of toning.
None of those "normal" RC prints appear to exhibit bronzing.
It is important to remember that colour prints have also been on RC paper for around 50 years. Just last month I was looking at proofs of colour portraits that I did about 48 years ago (at the age of 18) that had been kept in an album for all that time, and still looked great.

 

[Sal Santamaura]

...It is important to remember that colour prints have also been on RC paper for around 50 years. Just last month I was looking at proofs of colour portraits that I did about 48 years ago (at the age of 18) that had been kept in an album for all that time, and still looked great.

lt's the metallic silver of black and white RC prints that "bronzes/silvers." Color prints have nothing but dyes, i.e. no metallic silver, so they won't exhibit similar deterioration.

 

[MattKing]

lt's the metallic silver of black and white RC prints that "bronzes/silvers." Color prints have nothing but dyes, i.e. no metallic silver, so they won't exhibit similar deterioration.

This is part of the reason why it remains uncertain why some, but far from all of RC black and white prints show bronzing/silvering.
It probably isn't due to the materials in the prints themselves, but rather how the prints interact with environmental factors. It may be as simple as the fact that the RC base doesn't allow air or moisture to pass through it, thus requiring more air space in front of the image.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I almost never use RC. The last time was back when I still made prints of architectural subjects on MGIV RC for sake of commercial offset printing afterwards. Yes, selenium and sometimes other toners will deepen the DMax in a manner even prolonged development can't, with both RC and FB papers. But RC papers in general aren't all that rich to begin with, so I never use them for personal work.
But I always tone what I do intend to keep, but more with respect to the precise image color I want to end up with, as well as better DMax. Hypothetically better permanence itself is more just an icing on the cake.

I have all kinds of antique silver prints exhibiting differential bronzing, probably due to poor uneven fixing and less than ideal storage. It's often a beautiful look, which I learned to mimic on certain modern FB papers using split toning. I've also done it nicely with Foma RC papers, but mainly just as a fun experiment added to a commercial printing session.

 

[images39]

I use RC papers, and I tone them all. Ilford's warmtone RC especially responds to toning in a pronounced way. Untoned, that paper actually looks weird to me.

Dale