Gold Toner

David Lingham · Mar 1, 2007

Does anyone have a method to reduce the intensity of a gold toned print. These are Kentona lith prints processed in Fotspeed lith and then toned in Fotospeed gold toner. The prints, when in the wash had the look I was after, but they have dried alot darker.

Ian Grant · Mar 1, 2007

The only chemicals that will bleach (redissolve) you gold tones are hazardous.

Aqua regia, a mixture of concentrated Nitric and Hydrochloric acid, usually used boiling and fuming to dissolve gold, although a weaker solution would work slowly on a print, or a Potassium or Sodium Cyanide solution.

Both are extremely hazardous so you'd be better reprinting your images, and before toning do some trials with some test pieces, you can check the dry down by fast drying in a microwave, as Ansell Adams suggests.

Ian

David Lingham · Mar 1, 2007

Thanks Ian
I think I'll pass on trying Aqua regia, sounds like grounds for a divorce! Had the prints been conventional bromide, no hesitation, I would have reprinted them, but as lith is not a precise art I thought maybe there was a method that I was unaware of that would reduce the weight of tone. Lith, I know does tone with more intensity than normal fb paper. I'll have to reprint and reduce my toning times.

Roger Hicks · Mar 1, 2007

David Lingham said:
Does anyone have a method to reduce the intensity of a gold toned print. These are Kentona lith prints processed in Fotspeed lith and then toned in Fotospeed gold toner. The prints, when in the wash had the look I was after, but they have dried alot darker.

By pure chance I read Mike Ware's book on Chrysotypes just after seeing this post for the full time. Finely divided (nanoparticle) gold in a Chrysotype can be reduced by a solution containing 2% thiourea and 10% citric acid. It is unlikely but not impossible that the same solution would reduce the toned lith print, and it's certainly a much less ferocious option than aqua regia.

Let me know if you try it and if it works.

Cheers,

R.

AlanC · Mar 1, 2007

David,

Can't help you with your gold toning problems, but I've looked at your photographs on your website and I think that they are absolutely superb!

Alan Clark

Robert Hall · Mar 1, 2007

Lith prints just wait for toners. Their response is, as you have found, tremendous.

Have you tried printing a bit lighter for the final print, then having the gold bring them back down to where you would like it? Or is it the blue that is just too overwhelming?

David Lingham · Mar 1, 2007

Alan, thanks for those kind words. I've done well to impress a Yorkshireman.

Richard: If I was printing conventional bromide to be gold toned, I would print slightly lighter, but lith is not as predictable. What caught me out was the way the toner intensified when dry, becoming too blue, more so than I had expected. I'm trying for a subtle hue retaining some grays. Perhaps the dev was a little warmer than usual, the toner I know was new and fresh. I'll reprint and try and control the toning a bit more.

Roger: I'll try your suggestion on a spare print. Thanks.

Robert Hall · Mar 1, 2007

Another method might me to try something like selenium first, to see if you could retard the action of the gold.

Best of luck. I would like to see some scans of your results as well.

naaldvoerder · Mar 1, 2007

You could try not to tone in gold to complition, but pull it out before that. If you do so it is wise to refix after toning.

Jaap Jan

Robert Hall · Mar 1, 2007

An idea perhaps, but my experience is that the lith print turns very very quickly. (unlike the half hour or longer it can take on a "normal: print.)

Gold Toner

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