Halochrome Toner - Is mine a dud?

[DaFruz2]

Hello,

I've finally had a chance to try toning with Halochrome, a box of which has been sitting on my shelf for some time. Unfortunately my results, attempted on several paper types, didn't come close to the silver bronzing effect I was expecting. The bleach worked well, it's actually an excellent bleach, but the toning simply shifted the bleached area to an orange/brown copper color. Prior to bleaching, I followed Tim Rudman's suggestion (in his excellent/essential book, Master Photographer's Toning Book), to re-fix the prints in plain hypo, then rinse.

So I'm hoping to tap into the vast knowledge and experience out there to help diagnose the problem, as with all my searching online for solutions it seems that most who have tried Halocrhrome have had success.

Possible issues:
1. Shelf life. While there is no indication on the packaging that the Halochrome chemistry will expire, I suspect it may have. I purchased this 3-4 years ago. Somewhere along the line it was stored inverted, as a little leaked out and left a crust around the lid. Could the toner be spoiled? Should I purchase a fresh kit and start again?

2. Activator dilution. The instructions call for mixing the toner with diluted ammonia. It states that a 10% solution of ammonia diluted 1:2 with water "works best". I assumed that using the term "works best" indicated that the concentration of ammonia in the activator was somewhat flexible. I could only find a 5% solution, so I diluted it 1:1, which I believed would compensate for the weaker solution. Was I incorrect in my assumption? Was it too strong / weak?

3. Paper types. I think this is the least probable problem, as I haven't come across anyone writing about Halochrome indicate that it will absolutely not work with certain papers. The one paper that I didn't have on hand to test was the one that it supposedly works best with, glossy RC. I did test it on the following. Pearl RC, Ilford MG FB matt, Foma 131 (glossy), Foma 532 – Nature. All which resulted in a copper stain in the bleached area, rather than a chrome.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[mooseontheloose]

I don't have any advice for you but I'm interested in seeing what others might have to say. Like you, I have had some Halochrome sitting in my darkroom for some time now, so it will be interesting to see if mine is also "expired" or not. I hope to do some major darkroom work over the next two months and using the Halochrome is definitely on the to-do list.

 

[DaFruz2]

I don't have any advice for you but I'm interested in seeing what others might have to say. Like you, I have had some Halochrome sitting in my darkroom for some time now, so it will be interesting to see if mine is also "expired" or not. I hope to do some major darkroom work over the next two months and using the Halochrome is definitely on the to-do list.

An update:

I went ahead an purchased a fresh Halochrome kit. The first thing I noticed is that the colour of the main chemistry is slightly different from the same bottle out of my old kit. The new bottle has a honey, or slight cherry colour to it, whereas my older Halochrome fluid is more of a straw, or ale colour. (see attached image)

The fresh chemistry, mixed with the same activator I tried previously, worked immediately. I decided to first test it without re-fixing the prints in plain hypo. Glad I did, as all of my test prints seemed to respond to the fresh chemistry.

So it does seem that Halochrome can go off with age.

This is the first time working with Halochrome, and I don't believe I have ever seen a print toned with it before.
The results were interesting. Not quite what I was hoping for. I am disappointed with how it worked with Fibre paper, particularly matt paper. It essentially didn't bronze at all. Rather just a very expensive sepia finish. It did work with gloss FB paper, though I need to test further. My test print had many light mid tones which were completely lost in the toning prices. A small patch of pure black did chrome, but with a very different look from the RC chroming.
Halochrome seems to work best with dense slightly over printed prints. The results with my pearl RC paper were very successful, and has me rethinking how I am going to print my next project. Applied tastefully and done well, I believe the results (on an RC print), could be spectacular. I may have to get over my well refined snobbery of RC if I want a print finish such as this. Though, I'm going to do some more tests on gloss FB, before making a final decision.

Next week I will test the "direct" toning method with Halochrome. This is where the toner is applied during print processing, and affects the whites of the print rather than the blacks as in the above tests.

 

[mooseontheloose]

Thanks for the update!

I just went to look at my Halochrome, the solution is a very pale straw colour, paler than your old one. But it hasn't leaked in any way. That said, I'll expect that it won't work after all so I can be pleasantly surprised if it does. I think when I do use it (hopefully soon) I'll do a direct toning, since I prefer that effect for the images I have in mind.

Edit: If it doesn't work then I guess that's my own fault for not using it earlier -- there's no way I'll be able to ship it to Japan if it doesn't work.