Thanks, Richard, for answering my question before I asked it! But I didn't
receive your message until now. So, you say that HCA is recommended after
Viradon and KBT. Does that affect the long term permanence of the print or
is it just for avoiding stains?
Per
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeffrey Thorns" <puresilver@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 12:40 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Toning Question
So, how much do most people dilute KBT? I didn't see the dilution listed on the bottle.Normally 1:30. The toner works very slowly at room temperature so its usually heated to 100F in a water bath.
While I have toned many prints in KBT without a post toning sulfite bath with no difficulty from staining it is still recommended. Agfa recommends a 10% sulfite bath. I've used stock Kodak Hypo Claring Agent successfully but have not tested if it works as well diluted.
Both New Viradon and KBT are polysulfide toners. These have the peculiar propertly of toning faster as they are diluted or exhausted. That's why they tend to continue toning in the wash unless the wash is very fast. The sulfite bath stops this after toning.
Polysulfide (liver of sulfur) toner is one of the few that tones all densities evenly so it can be used for partial toning without split tones and with uniform image protection.
As a general rule single bath toners are cooler (bluer) than bleach and redevelop types. The color of the toned image will depend on the nature of the original image but, again a rule of thumb only, the warmer the original image the more yellow it will be after toning.
Bleach and redevelop toners are recommended for cold and neutral tone papers which may not show much color change with single bath toners. However, one must tone completely in them. It _is_ possible to delibrately split tone by not bleaching completely. The remaining silver can be toned with a different toner if desired.
The best source of practical toning information is _The Photographer's Master Printing Course_ by Tim Rudman. This has a wealth of data in it.
The curious thing is that my preference for Justin's photo would be blue toning, probably a Gold toner, which is both archival and more subtle than Iron-Blue.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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