Gast
Hello
Does anyone have any experience with this toner?
How long does the concentrate keep?
What about making a partial batch, and how do you mix it?
Unfortunately, I have no experience with toners – can anyone help me?
;-) Best regards, Frank
Gast
Hi Frank,
I used to use the classic sepia toner (now I make my own). The packaging states very short shelf lives, but in practice you can simply ignore those. The other day I used some residue that was probably about two years old (opened packet!) – no problem at all. Even the solutions with dilution can be kept in bottles and used for quite some time.
To better control the toning process, I would actually dilute the solutions – especially the Bleach bath – much more than specified. Most of the time, you don’t want to bleach completely, as the brown shadows would otherwise significantly reduce the contrast. In any case, I prefer it when some silver is left in the shadows.
As mentioned, you can control the image tone via the temperature of the toner. Cold produces a yellowish brown, warm a reddish dark brown (personally, I find the latter more attractive). Instead of using warm toner, you can also place the print in a bowl of warm water after the cold toning bath; this will cause the tone to change.
Perhaps this helps you a little?
Regards, Jens
IMFotograph
Thanks for now
The use-by dates had me a bit baffled. :-)
Where’s the best place to get the raw chemicals?
At the chemist’s?
Best regards, Frank
cfb_de
Hello Frank,
Here are the relevant sources:
- Pharmacy (may be expensive, may be difficult to deal with)
- Suvatlar in Hamburg (no website)
- www.thgeyer.de
- www.omikron-online.de/cyberchem/
- Various other chemical suppliers (Merck, Aldrich, Fluorochem, Roth)
- Brenner (apparently buys from Suvatlar themselves, so more expensive)
- smaller photochemistry manufacturers (Calbe, Maco, Amaloco, Spur)
In principle, the dispatch of chemicals is subject to certain regulations. These are in place to limit the retailer’s liability to a reasonable extent. The mail-order trade in chemicals is subject to strict regulations regarding customers’ expertise and the advice provided by the retailer.
Don’t be surprised by a bit of red tape before you’re finally allowed to place an order. The easiest option is a chemist’s or a photographic chemistry manufacturer. The chemist’s, because there is personal contact there and therefore no mail-order business is conducted. The photo shop, because they can assume that someone ordering photographic chemicals also knows what to do with them. By no means all chemical suppliers (to my knowledge, Merck, for example) ship to private individuals. Unfortunately, I don’t know for sure, as I don’t have these problems. I’m knowledgeable enough :-)
Omikron provides an excellent overview of the red tape involved. They are absolutely exemplary. Nevertheless, you can actually place an order there and receive everything you need.
Please don’t be put off by the prices, though: often a 10g pack costs the same as a kilo. The expensive part of pure chemicals isn’t the production, but the certified packaging and weighing.
I’d buy thiourea and potassium hexacyanoferrate (“red blood salt”) from a chemist. And to make it worthwhile, pick up a few of those Aponorm bottles with the red collar caps as well. You won’t find any bottles with a high density cheaper than that.
Best regards,
Franz (Chemist)
Urnes
Hi Frank,
I recently used a mouthpiece that was five (!) years old. I only did it to check if it was still in good condition. It still produced a sound without any problems.
Hi Franz,
Thanks a lot for the tip about the warm water. I always have problems with temperature and ventilation in my basement, even though it’s heated, so I’ll have to give that a go straight away.
Best regards, Sven.
cfb_de
Hi Sven,
The tip about warm water isn’t mine – it’s from Jens. Just to be fair.
When using sulphur toning, even with thiourea toners, you should bear two things in mind: ventilation (!) and making sure the print is definitely no longer acidic (e.g. due to an acidic fixer). Otherwise, it stinks terribly and isn’t good for your health.
I also find toning in daylight more practical, as I can see more of the image. But that’s up to each individual to decide.
Best regards,
Franz
