Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Sun, 21 Mar 1999 17:59:26 -0500 (EST)
On Sun, 21 Mar 1999, Joe Portale wrote:
> One way the I can tell if a selenium toner is working is by the smell. This
> may sound crazy, but with conventional papers the old Oriental Seagull
> stunk up the darkroom. This was during the days dated BV (Before
> Ventalation) The Oriental papers toned like crazy. Kodak papers (during the
> bad old days of Kodak....yeah they haven't got much better) Some of the
> Kodak papers would hardly tone at all. And the smell was proportionally less.
That's certainly intriguing Joe, but I wonder if it could be due to a 3rd
factor -- not necessarily the toning per se, but the toning in your water?
Or some other relevant particular? I think what I toned must have been
the "old" Oriental Seagull" (about 1988 ?)... and since I was working
20x24, I should have gotten a whiff of something, but didn't. (True, I may
lack sensitivity, but ..... that much?)
The paper I toned most was Brovira, it showed hardly any *visible*
reaction to selenium, but it did tone, because it wouldn't bleach back any
more, or not without ballistic bleaches.
My attempts to tone both VDB and Kalli were perfunctory, no more than a
few tests (as I recall), but for what it's worth, the kalli toned
WONDERFULLY in palladium, or maybe it was pl-pd (if someone cares I'll try
to find it). Made a lovely, quite black, strong color. If I'd kept doing
kalli that would have been toner of choice.
I didn't try sulphide (& I assume the "sepia" is a sulphide of some sort?)
with either medium because I was trying to modify the brown color. Other
attempted modifications didn't work -- except blue toner. That worked like
gangbusters, so I used it a few times to modify a print with a dreary
brown, to sort of cool-grey it. But there seemed little sense in toning to
a real blue, since cyano is indubitably archival, and soooo much less
trouble.
Joe -- on second thought, what is that *smell* like? Maybe my cellar just
smells that way already?
Judy
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