U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | toning albumen and acidity

toning albumen and acidity


  • To: Alt Photo <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
  • Subject: toning albumen and acidity
  • From: eric nelson <emanphoto@gmail.com>
  • Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:56:11 -0500
  • Comments: "alt-photo-process mailing list"
  • Dkim-signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com;s=beta;h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition;bh=O35VvLbRAv4Kd8+T84C8P6aMeTznQV3ac+wP03N+XJA=;b=mepmmfpBz7ocOyNFd5dusgX1hF9VjXf3DXhteoyS8iDo9V4wAHKQNWA4I5V2fmFNuXcSQQeHUEUhBer4sWBaEriAVu/3aAvR0rf1Ajp9UgKnveanoRxyoTS7kfcn2NnvQl3YRuKbnEKxz8GtWgBA66ebZZH0dV0fKRTv+1YhCq8=
  • Domainkey-signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta;h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition;b=B11cIxa/7eFfSfgdn7ttoKYe2U0GuBVSSapB7jTd+rTyb5WAoQOIJL/J0vGLmCOwAYFhoLoT1zRIqdDZdJFi+qXO57mHZ7qQP0IYJFkDMknnoCScTDkT5cDSbLTAP3uFx6NPPwG0gqGrSNTv6O/7nZC7AFcnEfhqfPFMDBDIkhA=
  • List-id: alt-photo-process mailing list <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
  • Reply-to: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca

I recently bought some 1% gold chloride from a known supplier to all
of us and it seems to be more acidic than most.  Upon mixing into a
standard borax toning solution it remained yellow which, according to
Reilly, is an indication that the solution is acidic.

Under the dim lights I was working under, I thought that the yellowish
appearance might be a trick of the light, or lack thereof, and carried
on and tried to tone a couple sheets.  There seemed to be little if
any toning accomplished, once all fixed and dried, so I'm wondering if
anyone else has experienced this?

My guess is to add, little by little, more borax than in the formula
(which I've always used without issue) if the yellow remains in the
next batch to bring the pH into the alkaline state it needs to be in.
Just picked up some new litmus paper today to help deal with this.

Also, for the borax toner, does anyone know what the optimum pH should be?

Thanks!

Eric

Copied from http://albumen.stanford.edu/library/monographs/reilly/chap8.html
 for reference.

Borax Bath
Borax (sodium borate)	10 g
1% Gold chloride solution	40 ml
Water	to make 1 liter