Ilford Multigrade Art 300 pt/pd toning?

Hey people,

I came across something curious in the Ilford Data Sheets. In the data sheet for art 300 paper, down on the 4th page where it lists toning instructions, it says this:

"For optimum permanence with other toners offering a protective effect, for example, sulphide (sepia), polysulphide and some metal replacement toners (gold and platinum), use the optimum permanence sequence above and then tone the print as desired."

The "(gold and platinum)" bit is what interests me. I don't think pt/pd toners work with silver gelatin papers, but is art 300 different enough that they work? Have any of you used a platinum toner on art 300? If so, how did it work, and what formula did you use? I've searched the internet but couldn't find any info on it. I love the look of palladium prints, so if no one has done it here, I might mix up a batch of kallitype palladium toner and see how it works with art 300.

Ethan Brossard said:

. I don't think pt/pd toners work with silver gelatin papers,

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Perhaps this is the root cause of your confusion. I think you're wrong here; all silver papers can be toned with PT or Pd in principe.

Hi Ethan

I was asked about 20 years ago by a friend to test a Platinum Toner. I can’t remember if it was home made or was a test product from a manufacturer, but did try it with Ilford Multigrade Warmtone, which I believe is the same emulsion as Art 300. I would imagine if it had come to market, it would have been promoted as a recommended archival toner. Is platinum considered even more stable than gold? I think so. I don’t have the prints to hand, but from what I remember, it shifted the print tone to a colder look, especially the shadows, though without the increasing colour tint of selenium or especially gold. I think I rather liked the results, though was a subtle difference. Maybe the shadows had a slight more intensity, but can't rightly remember. Will have to find them. Though curious for Harman to mention it on their data sheet as don’t think there is a platinum toner available commercially, though happy to be proved wrong!

Quick edit. Was it Platinum or Paladium, or a mix? Can't rightly remember. Think it was Platinum.

Mike Crawford said:

Was it Platinum or Paladium, or a mix? Can't rightly remember. Think it was Platinum.

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Most likely given your description of the tone shift. With palladium I would have expected the tone to have remained warm, perhaps even more so than the original, with disappearance of the characteristic greenish hue of untoned warmtone silver gelatin prints.

The biggest reason you don't see much about platinum or palladium toning these days is the current price of platinum or palladium.

MattKing said:

The biggest reason you don't see much about platinum or palladium toning these days is the current price of platinum or palladium.

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Second that comment. If you're doing actual palladium printing, 25-30 8x10 inch palladium prints will cost you around $300 USD, not including the paper. With the paper, it's closer to $350. While a Platinum toner would be cheaper than that, it's still not your garden-variety $30 bottle of Selenium.