black 1	black 3	brown 1	purple-brown	eggplant black 1	eggplant-red-black
red-brown 1	violet black	yello-blue split	yellow 1	yellow 2	oolong tea

TONING EXAMPLE RECIPES

Brown 1
Part A: 50 ml ammonia in 600 ml water; mix in the tray; dump with
much running water when finished
Part B: 17g tannic acid in 950 ml water; store in bottle

1) Immerse wet/aged prints in Part A for a few minutes till pale.
2) rinse for 5 minutes
3) Immerse in Part B for 3-5 mins till brown.
4) rinse for 15-20 mins

My results: flat chocolate brown with slight pink cast.
some highlights stained. Looks like a faded van Dyck.

top^

Red-Brown 1
Part A: 8ml ammonia in 250ml water
Part B: 65g tannic acid in 950ml water
Part C: 3/4 cup sodium carbonate in 950 ml water
1) immerse wet/aged print in Part A. Print will turn a rich violet color
in a few seconds. If you leave it in till it looks faded, your highlights will
be somewhat stained.
2) rinse for 10-15 mins in water
3) immerse in tannic acid for 5-10 mins. I did 10 mins because the tannic
acid always seemed to be slow-acting.
4) rinse for 5 minutes
5) if you like the brown color, continue with final wash of 15 mins
6) immerse the print in Part C. A rich red brown occurs (pretty fast...a few seconds). Leave it in for a minute or so
7) final wash of 15-20 mins

My results: the brown color for the first part is a nice chocolaty brown.
But the red-brown process is stunning. The prints are a rich sepia.

top^

Black 1
Part A: Dektol, mixed according to package or even stronger
Part B: 30-50g tannic acid in water

1) immerse wet/aged print in Dektol; print will turn goldenrod, get pale; fast & fun to watch
2) rinse in water for 5 mins after no blue is left in print
3) immerse in Part B for 5 mins; should turn smokey black (mine turned brown)
4) rinse for 15 mins

My results: red-brown prints. Nothing to write home about.

top^

Eggplant/Red/Black (continuation of Black #1):
1) after final 15 min wash, reimmerse print into Dektol till you like the color
2) do another final rinse
option: Use 1:3 ammonia/water bath instead of Dektol (250 ml amm in 1000 ml water)

My results: the Dektol prints were slightly more red than the ammonia.
Continuing on from Black #1 only made the prints more washed out.
Probably not worth the time to do it.

top^

Black 3 (3 chems, 10 baths)
Part A: 65g tannic acid in 950 ml water (store in bottle)
Part B: a pinch to a teaspoon or so of sodium carbonate in water
(store in bottle or dump using copious amounts of water)
Part C: 2 or so tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide

1) Immerse wet/aged print in Part A for 5 minutes.
2) rinse 5 minutes
3) immerse in Part B for a few seconds
4) rinse 5 mins
5) Part A for 5 minutes
6) rinse for 5 mins
7) Part C for 1 minute
8) rinse 5 mins
9) Part A 5 mins
10) rinse 15-20 mins in final wash

so it goes A-B-A-C-A with a wash for each step

My results: deep rich black that I can only liken to the color of licorice.
Kind of blue/black/red. Maroon tint to highlights. Definitely dark and different.

top^

Eggplant Black 1
Part A: weak mixture of sodium carbonate (pinch in 950ml water)
Part B: 65g Tannic Acid in 950ml water

1) Immerse wet/aged prints in Part A for 30 secs to 1 min
2) rinse in water where bleaching action continues
3) immerse in Part B to attain split color or deep color, as long as you like

My results: seemed washed out, but dried to a chalky black with decent
maroon-tinted highlights. Very eggplant.

top^

Yellow 1   Yellow 2
Part A: 1 Tablespon TSP (trisodium phosphate) in 1 quart (946ml) hot water
1) immerse wet/aged print in TSP until it fades to yellow, can be anywhere
from a few secs to a full minute.
2) rinse 30 minutes

Optional: immerse until there is split blue-yellow effect. Cool!
My results: when I went full yellow, the highlights stayed white.
Feels like a warm sunny day (aahhh). The split yellow-blue is slightly washed out
but interesting. Blue with yellow edges.

top^

Yellow/Blue split
Part A: Hydrogen peroxide, 1 or 2 T to water
Part B: a pinch or teaspoon of sodium carbonate in 1000ml water

1) immerse wet/aged prints in Part A for 1 minute
2) rinse in 15 min water bath
3) place briefly in Part B (anywhere from a few seconds to 30 seconds)
3) rinse in a fresh water bath; watch the split tones happen (I didn't see much)
4) final rinse of 15 mins

My results: this method counts on tap water with lots of iron in it.
During the toning, not much appeared to be happening. After the prints
were dry, they had a slight yellowish look around the blue areas. Subtle.

top^

Purple-Brown
Part A: a HOT solution of 65g tannic acid in 1000ml water;
then add a few drops of pyrogallic acid to the tray

1) immerse wet/aged in Part A. wait for desired color
2) rinse for 5 -10 minutes
My results: only the white parts turned a shade of pink.
Blues stayed blue or faded a little. Not worth the danger of heating an acid. Ick!

top^

Violet-Black
Part A: a pinch or so of sodium carbonate in 1000ml water
Part B: 8g gallic acid, 0.5g pyrogallic acid and 1000ml water

1) immerse wet/aged print in Part A for a few mins until it is pale yellow.
2) wash print for 5 mins
3) immerse print in Part B till you like the color; 2 mins was a good time
4) final rinse of 15-20 minutes

My results: the process was fun to watch, very gratifying.
The product was...drum roll...brown. Not purple, not black. Brown.
Sort of a raw umber with pink tinges depending on the paper.

top^

My attempts to achieve purple/lavendar cyanotypes are thwarted:

Violet 1
1) mix 1-2 Tablespoons (or more) of Borax in warm water or distilled water
2) immerse wet/aged print until you like the color
3) change Borax-water ratio to get more effect

My results: Cheap entertainment: the prints turned an amazingly rich purple
in water; dried to a dead pale blue. Boo hoo!
Yielded inconsistent results, even when paper, water, temp and dilution were the same.

Violet Gray 2
Part A: highly truly really seriously toxic lead acetate.
Most sources said avoid it. But I really wanted a purple.
My results: no visible change during or after. Not worth the trouble.

top^

Default Health Tips

• First and foremost, safety gear is advise; many chemicals release odorless
fumes and/or can be absorbed through the skin, cause cancer, and then you die.
I wear nitrile gloves, a chem apron, goggles, respirator, long sleeve shirt, sweats,
and work boots. I wash all clothing immediately after mixing chemicals or a toning
session (no, I am not related to Howard Hughes).

• even a small amount of ammonia hurts eyes and throats...this stuff is nasty!
• tannic acid and sodium carbonate are clumpy in water; patient mixing required.
• tannic acid gets foamy and will overflow the bottle if poured too quick.
• always add acid to water to avoid dangerous splashes.

• Look up MSDS info for chemicals on the internet
(http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/arthazards/photo1.html), in the back of Christopher
James' book or get a book about chemicals in art such as Overexposure:
Health Hazards in Photography, Shaw & Rossol, 1991, ISBN 0960711864.
It's important to know what combinations of chemicals are dangerous.
For example, potassium ferricyanide (cyanotype sol B) combined with a
strong acid can release strong cyanide gas.

top^

Toning tips

• at the art store: different paper types result in varied cyanotype
colors. Ditto for toning. Water pH or using distilled water also affects the outcome.

• at the grocery/hardware store: somewhat less toxic toning supplies include
tea/coffee (both will stain the highlights/paper base), ammonia (nondetergent),
borax (nondetergent), TSP (trisodium phosphate, a cleaner), hydrogen peroxide;
rumor has it that orange juice works (but not for me)

• chemicals: Use plastic or glass containers (funnels, mixing paddles)
to store and mix the chemicals. Avoid metal, which reacts with many chemicals.
Order chemicals from Photographer's Formulary or Bostick Sullivan.

• exposure: If you know in advance that you want your cyanotype to be
something other than Prussian Blue, overexpose your print (twice as much
exposure, or double coat your paper). Most toning methods include a bleaching
stage as well as extended washing times. Nonrich cyanotypes end up looking washed out/pastel. Which could be a nice effect.

• print prep: allow prints to age and harden for at least a day before
toning (fresh cyantotypes tend to "leave" the paper with multiple washings)

• print prep: presoaking the paper in water for about a minute is
recommended - paper becomes "ready" to tone; dry paper will also suck up much of your toner much faster than desired

• during: when wets, prints can be deceivingly deep colored. They
often dry down to a less-saturated tone and even to another color. Ergh.
Also, sometimes the toning seems to not be doing anything. But when dry,
the prints end up showing the effect after all. Huh.

• during: follow recommended rinse times to avoid staining of highlights and paper base.


Note: formulas make enough liquid to fill a 950 ml (1 quart) bottle which
in turn gives about 1 or 2 inches depth in an 8 x 10 tray.

top^