Tea toning(staining)

baachitraka · May 4, 2012

I am going to try this on RC paper and before that what are your experiences. Are there any real organic toners available for papers, apart from tea, coffee, wine and so on.

shuttershane · May 4, 2012

Try beets. They use them for dye...not sure how it would work but it is worth a shot

Bears eat beets. Bears beet battlestar galatica

baachitraka · May 4, 2012

I'm going to try tea. ;-) Nevertheless, I will happy to find some organic toners...

Steve Smith · May 4, 2012

Tea and coffee works.

Steve.

Newt_on_Swings · May 4, 2012

Rc takes much longer to stain and you might encounter messed up color splotched edges so leave some room for trimming.

Tea and coffee should be really brewed strong for this and let it cool unless you want to mess up the emulsion. You may have to weigh the print down as they can float and you get uneven staining.

I have also used cheap red wine, $3 bottle at trader joes or use what's left over the next day from the previous nights.

baachitraka · May 4, 2012

Yes, it is taking long time and I kept the temps around 25 deg C.

Newt_on_Swings · May 4, 2012

I have even left them for over night with rc lol. Fiber is by far easier. Also remember to wash them a bit after.

bsdunek · May 4, 2012

I've had very little success toning with tea or wine on RC paper. It just takes forever. FB papers tone quite well.
I like the idea of beets, shuttershane. Think I'll try that!

Steve Smith · May 4, 2012

I toned RC paper in tea and coffee with no problems at all. very strong and warm (not hot) seems to work.

Steve.

baachitraka · May 4, 2012

Works for me too. I took four sachet and round about liter and half of water and left the prints for an hour or so, once the temps came down around 24 deg C.

This is my first toning(rather staining) experience. Just curious, how are vario sulphur toners for portraits?

jesterthejedi · May 4, 2012

Anyone got a recipe for coffee or tea usage on Fibre paper? What you use, the steps, and process?

Thanks

Newt_on_Swings · May 5, 2012

Hard to make recipes as this process is is very loose in variables intrinsically. Different teas or coffee beans may have darker brews even from the same brand. But it's easy to mess around and test.

You just really have to experiment with temps and soak times, and concentrations of tea and coffee. As well as focusing on how you print as staining darkens it overall since it affects the base of the paper but not the blacks as true toners would.

Another thing, your stained prints smell really good after as a bonus when they are dried. Haha

baachitraka · May 5, 2012

One thing I notice is that it is not giving any brilliance, just another look. I personally like it. Neverthless, I will get some sulphide or selenium toners soon.

Schlapp · May 5, 2012

Didn't Mapplethorpe's printer tone a lot with tea?

Steve Smith · May 5, 2012

Newt_on_Swings said:
Another thing, your stained prints smell really good after as a bonus when they are dried. Haha

Unless you used coffee.

I would rather tone prints with it than drink it though!

Steve.

Michael Finder · May 6, 2012

I haven't had much luck tea toning RC paper, fibre based however, is a cinch! Different tea brands give different results, as do toning times, temperatures etc. Go ahead and fiddle to your heart's content. I never have any leftover wine - I drink the lot in the darkroom. Cheers Michael.

Tea toning(staining)

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