From: Sandy King (sanking@clemson.edu)
Date: 02/01/02-01:52:11 PM Z
OK, briefly.
>OK so I'm really interested in trying this. I have ordered: 1 gram of Gold
>Chloride. Few questions that I hope some of you might be able to answer.
>
>1. What is a suggestion for solution?
> I saw someone post 5%, which I'm guessing was a water-based solution.
The normal practice is to dissolve the 1g of gold chloride in 100ml
of distilled water, breaking the bottle under water. This give you a
1% solution.
The toner formula that was posted by Dick Sullivan called for a 5%
solution, so you will need to use about 25ml of the 1% solution per
quart to make the same strength toner.
>
>2. How long should I tone before fixing?
There is no magic answer here. First, because the toner works in both
visible and invisible ways so that the color you see during toning is
not necessarily what you will see when the print is dry. In fact, it
likely will be different.
However, 2-5 minutes is probably enough time if you tone before fixing.
>
>3. Should I expect any color shifting with a pure solution of gold chloride
>(the solution being water and gold chloride based on what percentage
>suggested)?
Yes, you should expect some cooling of the the color of the image
with gold toning.
>
>My main reason for trying this besides curiosity is that people have been
>saying that toning might actually help with the bleaching that happens while
>fixing a Van Dyke image.
Toning before fixing in my work has definitely eliminated subsequent
bleaching during fixing and final wash. However, and this may be
significant, I also add a little sodium carbonate to my fixer to make
it slightly alkaline. Acidic conditions contribute to image bleaching.
Sandy King
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