Toning prints with 'kitchen chemicals'.

[Matej Maceas]

Today, I've tried for the first time to tone a print with coffee. That made me wonder whether there are any other substances, commonly found in one's kitchen, that can be used for toning. I've found tea being mentioned in one of the threads, but is there anything else you have successfully experimented with?

 

[Lex Jenkins]

Just coffee and regular tea so far. Results ranged from pretty good on fiber paper to a sickly piss-yellow on RC paper.

I plan to try some Red Zinger tea next since I don't like to drink the stuff - it's a pretty color, tho'.

I'll try to remember to report back with my results.

BTW, there are theories that the tannic acid in tea can harden and protect the emulsion against damage so it's doing more than simply coloring the print.

 

[glbeas]

Toneing with coffee and tea seems to me just coloring the paper base and not really affecting the image tone by much. May as well soak the picture in Easter egg dye....

 

[Donald Miller]

01

 

[Cheryl Jacobs]

Toneing with coffee and tea seems to me just coloring the paper base and not really affecting the image tone by much. May as well soak the picture in Easter egg dye....

Well, yes, but it can be done to great effect when done with the right image / subject matter.

I wouldn't use it on prints where archivalness (is that a word?) is critical. Although coffee / tea / red wine can be fun to play with, they are far from archival.

(yep, red wine. Love the effect.)

 

[lee]

Do you drink the red wine before or during the toning session with the wine? enquiring minds want to know....

lee\c

 

[Cheryl Jacobs]

Lee, I split it 50/50 for drinking / toning. Of course, the toning results look even better to me with a 75/25 split.