Judy Seigel > > > On Thu, 2 Nov 1995, Rosanne Stutts wrote: > > > >>(Direct toner, meaning you just immerse the print in it without any > > >>pre-bleaching) > > > > Isn't that a dye? > > No. If you put a photograph into a dye (as for fabric, or whatever), the > paper base is dyed (stained) with probably little or no change to the > color of the photograph. > > A photographic toner is a chemical that unites with/changes/coats the > silver in the photograph -- the BLACK in factory paper -- to make it a > different color. Direct toners are mostly shades of brown, blue, green, > and red,though I think there is also a direct yellow (cadmium) & I daresay > a direct black. The most common are brown, and as I mentioned, frequently > though not always the browns are stinky sulphides. On the other hand, > they tend to be very beautiful, and permanent. > > Oh wait a minute, I left out selenium, which can go quite purple,even > reddish, depending on the paper, if used strong. And gold toning*, for > rich people, which can be blue or bright red depending on the formula. > > If done nicely and with good karma, with all these toners the paper base > stays white. > > *Gold toning was quite popular when gold was $22 an ounce. I haven't done > it, but at one time there was a very popular formula -- Nelson Gold (is > that right, somebody?) which was relatively cheap because it had less > gold but enough to make prints archival. > > Judy >
Judy,
there is also toning with tin (Stannous Chloride), which produces
browns and purples. I have been looking for a proper formula and
the time to try it, but basically, it's a ferricyanide bleach/
redevelop type, I think. If anyone has access to L.P. Clerc's
photographic encyclopedia, they might find it there. Unfortunately,
my library's copy was destroyed in Hurricane Andrew and it's out
of print. In fact, the whole section on toning was very complete.