Gold Toning Azo

[Silverpixels5]

Is there a particular gold toner recipe that will shift the color of Azo towards blue? I tried a regular gold toner consisting of 1% Gold Chloride and Ammonium Thiocynate, but it did nothing but slightly increase the DMax. I gave a slight blue cast on some of my enlarging paper, so I know the solution is working. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Francesco]

How about using selenium toner instead. Perhaps 1:50?

 

[Silverpixels5]

I've tried selenium but the color goes from neutral to purplish/pink....no blue.

 

[lee]

develop Azo in Dektol and you should get a blue.

lee\c

 

[ann]

you might try "Blue Gold toner". I have not tried it on AZO as I don't use that paper, but it does shift to a blue cast to down right ugly blue on many papers.

THere is also a Gold Choride Blue Toner in Steve Ancell's book the darkroom cookbook you might try.

 

[Silverpixels5]

The Blue Gold Toner from Anchell's cookbook was the recipe I used. I will try the dektol, as I have a bunch of it laying around to be used. Thanks!

 

[ann]

oops! Forgot the formula for that toner. Did you try both are just the bluegold one? THe second has thiocarbamide and citric acid rather than thiocyanate.

 

[Silverpixels5]

No just the first one. I don't have any thicarbamide or c. acid. I just tried developing it in Dektol and i have a nice blue tone. I'm going to try toning it in the blue gold toner and see if that does anything to the cast. Thanks!

 

[ann]

interesting. I will have to remember that . One of these days I am going to make some prints with AZO. One of my dealers gave me a box of 5oo sheets of 4 x 5 paper.
I have used the bluegold toner after using hypo alum toner and the results were interesting. A cross between orange and red. Not as ugly as it sounds, but different. Was running some test for a project and thought , wonder what this would look like. The paper was Forte polywarmone plus. Didn't use if for the project but kept the print for an example for my students.

 

[Silverpixels5]

One thing about the 4x5 paper. I have found that it is usually of the old variety of Azo...usually around 30+ yrs old. While it still should print quite nicely, I believe it has a different formula from the Azo that is produced today, as it responds differently to toners and developers. I ran a few of the 4x5 sheets through this Dektol as well, and I got a neutral to warm color on the prints, while the current Azo produced a slight blue tone. I have also found that the old Azo goes from neutral to a pinkish/chocolate color in selenium 1:3.

 

[ann]

The date on the paper was 1964, in fact I just smiled and said thanks, but it wasn't until on my way home I remembered that AZO had a rep for staying power.
Ran a quick test with a few sheets expectly fog, but no..... The top sheet and the bottom one had some funky things going on, but the wrapper was moldy so that is no surprise. Middle sheets looked great.

Years ago there was a box of either 8 x 8 or 10 x 10 ( interesting size had not seen before) AZO hanging around the lab and ended up giving it to a student who was doing some contact printing. Never got to see the results;; hope he got good use out of it. It had to be 10 to 15 years old at that time. I was on one of those massive clean up binges. I will be more carefully next time.

 

[Donald Miller]

I have some of the older Azo that I bought from an individual. (Grades 1 through 4). I print on both the older and the newer paper. The older paper has a luminescence that the new paper does not possess. (Not that the new paper is bad by any means). Michael Smith indicated that Azo had been through several reformulations in the time that he has used it. Some of the older paper had Cadium as an ingredient of the emulsion.

 

[Silverpixels5]

I have to agree with donald. While both the old and the new paper seem to glow, the older one has a radience that I have yet to see in any other paper, even the new azo.

BTW...turns out that the old azo did go blue in the toner. I just could not tell until it dried down and I compared it to an untoned print. Thanks again for the help!

 

[ann]

Ever since Cadium was remove from several papers, many have been unhappy campers. Agfa Brovia was wonderful stuff until they removed the Cadium as was AZO and I think the older Forte Polywarm tone as well. THat paper did wonderful splits. I believe environmental issues led to the removal.

 

[Adrian Twiss]

Try Tetenal Gold Toner. That produces a pronounced blue tone.