WTF Borax/Gold Chloride toner Q

[mark]

So I have some time to finally print the pics for the alt process exchange and here is the problem.

I mixed some gold chloride/borax toner on the 23rd of december when I was printing a christmas present. It worked fine.

Today on the first the toner seems to not be working at all. I put the POP in the toner, and after about ten minutes I do not see a real difference in color. Put it into the Sodium Thiosulfate and it bleaches A LOT. This did not happen on the 23rd. On the 23rd I got a rather cold tone image from the toning and the print did ot bleach at all in the fix. Is this a mix it a use it thing or it will die.

WTF is going on?

 

[smieglitz]

I've had the same experience of the borax-gold toner exhausting quickly whether used to capacity or not.

Try Clerc's thiourea-gold toner instead. It keeps much longer. It gives a lovely purplish tone with POP. Instructions for mixing it can be found in White's article on Van Dyke Brownprinting on the unbinkingeye.com site.

Joe

 

[mark]

what is thiourea?

 

[ann]

thiourea is another name for thiocarbamide.

It is used in gold toners and in vesions of sepia type toners.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

My impression is that borax/gold chloride toner is just not very long lasting. At the albumen workshop I attended, Daniel Levin said that he tones about 12 8x10's in 2 litres of toner (containing 1 g gold chloride), and he doesn't keep it after the session. He gets about 12 prints ready before mixing the toner. To get the most out of the toner, don't print with a wide black border. We also rinsed the prints thoroughly before toning, which I think would also apply to Centennial POP.

 

[cjarvis]

I believe that to be true for gold borax or gold thiocyanate. They need to be replenished as they're used.

 

[Schlapp]

What's the score with Plat toner in citric acid? I used some to great effect a week ago on POP but when I looked at it this morning the toner had gone that purple-ish exposed POP colour. Is it still OK to use?

 

[cjarvis]

You know, I misspoke. Shocking, I know...

Gold thiocyanate does not need to be replenished, as it doesn't keep well in solution, so it's mixed/used on a session-by-session basis.