Waxing Sepia-Toned Prints

doughowk · May 16, 2015

I normally wax my silver-gelatin prints, but waxing sepia-toned prints results in unsightly blemishes that can seen when looking at the print from an angle. While applying the wax,the print surface feels very rough. Buffing does not help. I've tried Fomabrom, Ilford Gallerie, and Ilford MG with same results.

Gene Nocon, in his Photo Printing book, mentioned that Selenium toning "breaks the surface emulsion of the paper." And he recommended the use of a hardener after toning. I'm wondering if my bleach step is too strong and doing the same as what Nocon described. Bleach formulae from Rudman on thiocarbamide toning.

NB23 · May 16, 2015

Hardener is extremely hard to wash.

You don't normally selenium tone your prints? You should.

MattKing · May 16, 2015

I try to use post-toning hardener on all my toned prints. With the Kodak chemicals I use, it is the manufacturer's recommendation.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/g23/g23.pdf

doughowk · May 16, 2015

Thanks, Matt. I will order some hardener.
I'm still curious as to whether its the bleach or the redeveloper that is causing the "roughening" of the emulsion.

Gerald C Koch · May 16, 2015

NB23 said:
Hardener is extremely hard to wash.

You don't normally selenium tone your prints? You should.

I assume you are advising for permanence of the image. Some years ago a study was done by one of the microfilm users associations. What it found was that in order to obtain maximum archival permanence with either selenium or sulfide there must be a profound color change in the silver image. All of the surface of each silver grain must be covered with selenium or sulfide. Sulfide was found to be more effective than selenium. They recommend that all important microfilm be so treated. Merely using a brief toning in the belief that one is cofering archival permanence to a print is unfounded. The study also applies to silver prints. Yet you will find this advice in many books and the notion still persists.

Gerald C Koch · May 16, 2015

It would be useful to know what bleach the OP is using. Is it the conventional ferricyanide one or another. Some bleaches like permanganate and copper cause excessive softening of the emulsion.

Gerald C Koch · May 16, 2015

Varnishing prints instead of waxing might solve the problem. Anseal Adams in his book The Print gives a recipe for a print varnish and how to use it. Use trichlorethylene or similar solvent instead of Carbona (carbon tetrachloride) which is quite toxic.

doughowk · May 16, 2015

Thiocarbamide Bleach formulae is from Rudman page 181:
Potassium ferricyanide 100grams
Potassium Bromide 100g
Water for a liter
Believe I diluted it by 50%, and am wondering if its still too strong.
The redeveloper formulae is as described by Rudman in same section.

Gerald C Koch · May 16, 2015

You are using the bleach far too concentrated. A one-shot version of Farmer's reducer contains 1 g/l of ferricyanide. This is probably the reason for the softening. Didn't the Rodman book give detailed instructions for dilution?

doughowk · May 16, 2015

Gerald,
page 32 of Rodman's toning book state "Dilute according to intended use (see text)."
In the text itself (page 23), "Assuming that the print is to be completely sepia toned, it must be bleached fully....For full bleaching, the bleach can be used undiluted."
I've diluted by 1/2 strength, yet am getting the emulsion problems.
I've not had these problems when using a kit, so am thinking that it might be the redeveloper.

Gerald C Koch · May 16, 2015

Try using a lower dilution say 1+3. The concentration of the ferricyanide determines the speed of the reaction not whether it goes to completion. Or you can switch to a dichromate based bleach which will not soften the emulsion.

One other question. How old is the paper that you are using.

doughowk · May 16, 2015

The Foma & Ilford papers were all purchased within the year.

I'm a bit wary of Pot. dichromate as a bleach. I do currently use it in developer for Palladium; but that is only replenished rather than discarded.

Will take up your suggestion for further dilution of the ferric bleach; and thanks for your help.

brian steinberger · May 16, 2015

doughowk said:
Thiocarbamide Bleach formulae is from Rudman page 181:
Potassium ferricyanide 100grams
Potassium Bromide 100g
Water for a liter
Believe I diluted it by 50%, and am wondering if its still too strong.
The redeveloper formulae is as described by Rudman in same section.

This formula is supposed to then be diluted 1+9 for a working solution. And even at this strength is quite strong. I normally mix up working solutions anywhere from 1-5 grams of pot ferri per liter with an equal amount of pot bromide.

doughowk · May 16, 2015

Thanks, Brian. I must have overlooked a Rudman recommended dilution. Will try your suggestion.

chip j · May 16, 2015

How do you wax a print???

walbergb · May 16, 2015

brian steinberger said:
This formula is supposed to then be diluted 1+9 for a working solution. And even at this strength is quite strong. I normally mix up working solutions anywhere from 1-5 grams of pot ferri per liter with an equal amount of pot bromide.

+1 for diluting the stock ferri bleach 1+9. The diluted bleach gives me more control over the amount of bleaching. I make my own using the same formula as you. Full strength is good for fully bleaching the print quickly. Side note: the stock bleach doesn't last forever. I thought it did, but learned my lesson the hard way. Brian's practice of mixing a working strength ferri bleach is frugal.

walbergb · May 16, 2015

chip j said:
How do you wax a print???

I'm assuming that the OP is referring to conservator's wax. Once applied it forms an additional barrier to air pollutants. I made and waxed a print for my sister years ago. She's a heavy smoker as are the others living in and visiting the house (with a few exceptions). I'm happy to say that the print is doing fine!

Gerald C Koch · May 17, 2015

Old time photographers would Simonize their matte prints. That is they used Simonize car wax on them. It worked very well.

Whether waxing or varnishing a print the idea is the same. A VERY small amount of the compound is applied evenly to the matte print. Then with a clean lint-free cloth as much of the compound is removed as possible. There should never be any apparent wax or varnish on the print. What you do achieve is an increase in the contrast of the print. Blacks will appear blacker. Whether this provides any additional protection to the print is a matter of conjecture.

doughowk · May 17, 2015

Checked my notes and find that I'm actually using a formulae from I believe UnblinkingEye.
Bleach:
Pot. ferricyanide 20 grams
Pot. bromide 10g
Water for liter
Redeveloper Stock solution
Solution A:
Thiocarbamide 100 grams
Water for liter
Solution B:
Sodium hydroxide 100 grams
Cold water for liter

Working redeveloper solution:
20 ml solution A
100 ml solution B
Water for a liter

Sorry for my confusion; but now I'm not sure how to proceed. Guess I'll further dilute the bleach (or just get a new kit ;-(

NB23 · May 17, 2015

Gerald C Koch said:
Old time photographers would Simonize their matte prints. That is they used Simonize car wax on them. It worked very well.

Whether waxing or varnishing a print the idea is the same. A VERY small amount of the compound is applied evenly to the matte print. Then with a clean lint-free cloth as much of the compound is removed as possible. There should never be any apparent wax or varnish on the print. What you do achieve is an increase in the contrast of the print. Blacks will appear blacker. Whether this provides any additional protection to the print is a matter of conjecture.

Would regular Canola oil work? (serious question)

NB23 · May 17, 2015

Gerald C Koch said:
I assume you are advising for permanence of the image. Some years ago a study was done by one of the microfilm users associations. What it found was that in order to obtain maximum archival permanence with either selenium or sulfide there must be a profound color change in the silver image. All of the surface of each silver grain must be covered with selenium or sulfide. Sulfide was found to be more effective than selenium. They recommend that all important microfilm be so treated. Merely using a brief toning in the belief that one is cofering archival permanence to a print is unfounded. The study also applies to silver prints. Yet you will find this advice in many books and the notion still persists.

I've read this quite a few times.

I always Selenium tone until I see a Change in the print. However, some paper simply do not change color at all. Ilford RC and Ilford MGIV come to mind.

Gerald C Koch · May 17, 2015

Canola oil would probably would make a mess, you need a drying oil. But boiled linseed or tung oil should work. Also equal parts of beeswax and turpentine melted together. This produces a soft paste. Ansel Adams formula uses lithographers varnish. I have used his recipe and it works very well. I have one print that is over 50 years old.

Old_Dick · May 18, 2015

I had read an article about waxing prints 40+ years ago. I didn't have any paste wax around the house so I grabbed a can of spray Pledge and an old test print, semi mat. The print had a wicked curl to it, immediately after spraying the print, the curl reversed itself, the blacks got darker. Now that I'm writing this, I'm going to try my granite spray wax, just for yuks.

Principal Unix System Engineer, Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems(retired)

walbergb · May 18, 2015

doughowk said:
I normally wax my silver-gelatin prints, but waxing sepia-toned prints results in unsightly blemishes that can seen when looking at the print from an angle. While applying the wax,the print surface feels very rough. Buffing does not help.

Are you sure the unsightly blemishes were not there before waxing? As for the print surface feeling rough, the only experience I have was dirty water in the wash tray. I use the darkroom at our community art gallery. Over time, if the water isn't drained and the tray cleaned, the prints come out with a layer of gritty guck on the surface.

doughowk · May 19, 2015

Reduced the bleach to 5 grams pot. ferrycyanide and 3 grams pot. bromide per liter of water, and still have same issues when waxing.
We do have very hard city water, but it doesn't appear to be that significant of a problem when waxing straight silver gelatin prints. The sepia prints seem more prone to abrasion.
Next step: will try hardener and a final soak in distilled water before waxing (Renaissance wax).

Waxing Sepia-Toned Prints

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