Toning OfKkallitypes

I have been trying different developers and toners for Kallitypes.

I like the sepia brown color when using Sodium Citrate as the developer but have not found a toner that keeps the same color in the final print after toning. I have tried several different toners such as Basic Noble metal Toner (citric acid and 5% gold toner), Palladium toner and Gold Borax as described in Christopher James books. All of these toners turn my Sepia brown print into a Blue black color.


Does anyone have a recommendation on what toner to use that will keep the sepia brown color?

No personal experience with Kallitypes, but have you considered any of the non-noble metal based toning processes such as selenium, polysulfide, sepia etc and see if one of those gets the color you are pursuing.

The sepia color is iron salts which will eventually fade. All of the noble-metal toners will replace it with their own characteristic colors: gold is neutral black, palladium is slightly yellowish, and platinum (which is the most expensive and which I haven't tried) a light sepia color. I have some brown toner I've been intending to try on top of a palladium-toned print, but I fear it'll stain the paper along with the print. When you find a toner you like, please update your posting.
Tom

Here is a test I did with a spoiled print which I had palladium toned. I re-toned the top strip in Ilford Brown Toner, mixed 1:50 as recommended, for 8 minutes. The middle strip is the print as it was, toned only in palladium. The bottom strip was re-toned in Kodak Selenium Toner, mixed 1:3 as recommended, for 8 minutes.

Palladium gives a yellowish tone with a hint of green (this particular print turned out exceptionally yellow for some reason. It may be because I only gave it a 2-minute wash.). Re-toning in brown increases density slightly and gives a red-brown hue. It also re-developed some of the unexposed emulsion, as you can see on the right, and stained the paper. Selenium gave a neutral, slightly purplish tone and bleached the print, mostly in the highlights. It also slightly re-developed the unexposed border of the emulsion.

My other palladium-toned prints are much more neutral, with a very slight brownish tint. I think I'll try a short (2-4 minute) re-toning in Ilford Brown and see if I prefer that.
Tom

I love the +Brown Tone result. Is that close to the original un-toned print? The fact that it significantly changes the color, does it mean that there was some Ag still available after Palladium toning?

I doubt the toner is replacing silver. I think it's staining the print instead, as shown by the coloring of the uncoated border. I'd say brown toner is redder than the processed but un-toned print.
Tom

tnp651 said:

The sepia color is iron salts which will eventually fade....
Tom

Click to expand...

No. It's silver.