Not impressed with gold toned POP

[mark]

So I went out and bought the ingredients for the borax version of POP gold toner. I have been playing with it most of the day and I must say Ho-Hum. The gold tone, no matter what amount of time I left it in, just did not thrill me. I kept saying to myself, if I wanted a regular old Bw print I would use AZO or regular enlarging paper. I really like the warm tones of POP toned in KRST. I do amit to liking the ease of the gold toner when it came to exposure. with KRST there is a lot if iffyness but I like that. Makes the process a challenge.

Aw-well. It is good to realize that the grass is actually greener where I was. I will finish off the toner as I have a couple of negs that might benefit from colder tones. But from now on it is selenium and POP.

Now the palladium kit is calling and I might as well give it a try. Just waiting to see if Santa read my list and got me the majic brush. I don't think so, but here's to hoping.

 

[Mateo]

Try Palladium toning your POP. Gold is too cold for me but I like the nuetral you get from Platinum and love the warmth of Palladium.

 

[mark]

ANy idea where I can find formula for palladium toner?

 

[Mateo]

Well I can give you the formula I use but you may or may not like it.

1 teaspoon Citric Acid in about a liter of water
7 drops of Palladium Sol #3 from the Pt/Pd printing drawer

This is for an 8x10 print and I adjust the number of drops according how much low values are in the print. For additional prints it needs to be replenished with Pd or you will get stains and then sometimes it just goes bad even with plenty of Pd and you have to start from scratch.

I don't know why but Platinum doesn't seem so eager to stain in my experience. Somewhere I remember reading that a little Sodium Chloride in the toner will help but I wasn't too impressed. Somewhere else I was reading that a pre bath of just the Sodium Chloride before the toner would help. I haven't tried that though.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

The gold tone, no matter what amount of time I left it in, just did not thrill me. I kept saying to myself, if I wanted a regular old Bw print I would use AZO or regular enlarging paper.

The reason to use POP with a more neutral tone rather than Azo or conventional paper would be if you wanted the look of a silver print but had a negative that would benefit from the self-masking properties of POP.

 

[cjarvis]

Try selenium - I use Kodak RST - 1:50 for about 45 seconds to a minute for a rich light chocolate color.

Personally I prefer gold borax. This is the formula I use as a starting point:

Stock/Working Solution
Distilled water 700ml
Gold chloride 1% solution 12ml
Borax 6g
Distilled water to make 800ml

I get the best terra cotta color with it.

 

[mark]

I read some where that you can gold tone after fixing. COuld not remember where though so I figured, since I was playing, what the hell. Have you ever seen a neon Yellow monochrome print? I mean scary yellow.

Cjarvis, I am going back to KRST. I will have to try the 1:50 Right now I use a 3% solution and tone for about 2-3 minutes. I can control the tone much easier that way.

Mateo, I will try the palladium tone formula. Thanks.