Which sepia toner to order

I would suggest you use a sodium sulfide tone, mixed yourself as others have suggested and tone the print outside.

mexipike said:

So I got my Moersch kit in the mail today and the instructions are pretty good but left with me two questions:

1.) The instructions list amounts of Toner and Controller to use with what amount of water. However the three bottles included are one which is labeled Bleach and the other two are both labeled Toner, with all other writing in German. Which one is Toner and which is Controller, one is bigger than the other?

2.) Can you make up a reusable working solution with all of the chemicals? My guess is yes, except maybe now with the bleach.

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Hi Mike - the Controller is the alkali - sodium hydroxide/potassium carbonate soln' - the Toner is the Thiourea

Yes, you can. If you go to Moersch Photo Chemie you can find his tutorials under the given chemistry:
http://www.moersch-photochemie.de/content/shop/toner/47/daten/tonung-schwefel/teil1_eng.htm?PHPSESSID=70cbe6e3d773c07755f08508d1e1228c

I think it's listed for the working soln' I do mine in small amounts. I think the shelf life is at least 6 months but it should be listed on his site.

Have fun. I just ordered another batch myself.

Yes, like Clive said make sure you tone outside. and don't dump the stuff in the sewage..!

Yes, like Clive said make sure you tone outside. and don't dump the stuff in the sewage..!

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However, traditional sulfide toners are easily dumpable in the sewer - seeing as the sewer is primarily comprised of tons of hydrogen sulfide.

So far I have been enjoying the results I'm getting with the Moersch kit, however it's been a bit of a pain to tone in the cold since it has been so cold here (at least cold to a Texan!) I do find the toxicity a little frustrating.Tomorrow I'm going to try Ilford Warm Tone in Selenium and see if I get something I like and could maybe skip the sepia.

One question: I made a print tonight fixed, washed, then bleached right to the mid tones. When I took it to the toner my highlights never really reappeared, I got some of the lighter mid tones back but lost the near white highlights. Was there possibly just not enough density in the highlights to get them back after bleaching?

I'm reviving this thread as I now have Tim Rudman's toning book. As far as I can tell moersch st3 is a Thiocarbamide or thioreau sepia toner. To quote the book:
"These Thiocarbamide toners have two advantages:
Firstly, they don't smell, so they won't fog your films."

Yet everyone seems to say I should use it outside and it will fog paper etc.
is this based on new information?

mexipike said:

I'm reviving this thread as I now have Tim Rudman's toning book. As far as I can tell moersch st3 is a Thiocarbamide or thioreau sepia toner. To quote the book:
"These Thiocarbamide toners have two advantages:
Firstly, they don't smell, so they won't fog your films."

Yet everyone seems to say I should use it outside and it will fog paper etc.
is this based on new information?

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I think the advice given on toning outside and fogging is based on a belief that it was a sulphide toner with the characteristic rotten eggs smell that you had.

I can't see Tim Rudman saying what he said if there was any danger from a Thiocarbimide toner in respect of the two things mentioned but maybe not everyone agrees with Tim's view.

pentaxuser

I am surprised there hasn't been some other responses since mine. Maybe it means that my post has been regarded as correct.

Let us know how you get on with toning inside. Incidentally this may sound like I am sounding a note of caution but while I think that an enclosed darkroom is OK I'd be inclined to keep the door open or open the window(s).

Toning in daylight has to be worthwhile if you have the spare time to access the darkroom then

pentaxuser