One shot gold toner?

Well, sort of one shot.

I've been using the simple 1000ml 38C distilled water + 6 grams borax + 12ml 1% gold chloride solution from Ellie Young's book for salt prints, but it doesn't seem to last too long. Don't have the ingredients for the longer lasting gold toners on hand.

Does the following idea make sense?

What say I mixed up a litre of distilled water with the 6 grams of borax, but didn't add the gold chloride? I've been making 5x5 step tablets, so my thinking is I could take 100ml of the borax solution and add 1.2ml of the 1% gold chloride and use it one shot, or maybe even replenish with a few drops for each additional print. I'd have to let it sit for an hour or so after mixing, but that's not a problem with the slow pace of coating and drying the paper.

Doable?

One 5x5 through & so far, so good. Will be doing another one in an hour or so...will see how it compares with the first one.

I do basically that, but with Clerc's toner. I make a litre of the bulk solution of thiourea, tartaric acid and salt. That keeps for months, though it can grow blobs of microbes over time; this has no effect on the results. When I need the toner, I add 1 drop of 1% gold chloride per ml of the bulk solution. Borax toner might need more than that.

You might also try using minimal amounts of toner. I use about 10ml for a 5x7. Less is possible, depending on the result you want. A flat-bottomed tray on a level surface will make this easy to manage.

revdoc said:

I do basically that, but with Clerc's toner. I make a litre of the bulk solution of thiourea, tartaric acid and salt. That keeps for months, though it can grow blobs of microbes over time; this has no effect on the results. When I need the toner, I add 1 drop of 1% gold chloride per ml of the bulk solution. Borax toner might need more than that.

You might also try using minimal amounts of toner. I use about 10ml for a 5x7. Less is possible, depending on the result you want. A flat-bottomed tray on a level surface will make this easy to manage.

Click to expand...

Ahhh...there's the wisdom I was looking for

I used a glass baking dish. Thought I might be able to tone more than one, but looks like the second step tablet received less toning. Will give them a good look tomorrow after they finish their transmogrification.

I will try your smaller amount & count drops idea next. Thanks!

I generally use a gold/bicarbonate toner as I have trouble keeping borax in solution in my rather chilly basement dim room during the winter. But I use the same method for either.

I make 1% (w/v) sodium bicarbonate or 6% (w/v) borax. About 30 min before I need to tone, I add 1.4 mL of 1% (w/v) gold chloride per 100 mL of either bicarbonate or borax solution. For an 8x10 tray, I'll make 200 or 300 mL of working toner. These recipes are basically those described in Chris Anderson's salt printing book.

All of the stock solutions mentioned above store more-or-less indefinitely at room temperature. (It is important to keep the bicarbonate tightly closed.) I make the gold chloride stock using distilled water and the other solutions with tap water. (I am on a private well so there are no additions to my tap water as there are with municipal water. My well water is mildly hard, i.e. not hard enough that we do anything about it.)

I have successfully toned at up to nine prints with an image area of 6x7.5 inches (on 8x10 inch paper) in 300 mL of working toner over four or five hours. (I don't know what the actual limits are past that as I've not tested past those limits.) I do know that this toner is inactive in the morning when it was mixed the previous evening.

revdoc said:

I do basically that, but with Clerc's toner. I make a litre of the bulk solution of thiourea, tartaric acid and salt. That keeps for months, though it can grow blobs of microbes over time; this has no effect on the results. When I need the toner, I add 1 drop of 1% gold chloride per ml of the bulk solution.

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I've been doing as well. Works great, very convenient. Well, I actually mix the stock solution a little more concentrated so the bottle lasts longer. Upon use, take one part stock, dilute with water, add gold chloride. Use once or perhaps twice and discard. Ca. 20ml can tone a 4x5 print on 5x7 paper in a small tray. It's pretty much spent at that point.

I have been doing copper-toning of cuprotypes (I know that sounds redundant but it's true) by brush coating with great success. Wonder if this has been tried for gold or Pt/Pd toning. That would save up big if it works that way.

:Niranjan.