I prefer coffee with cyanotypes, as tea turns the white areas brownish more than coffee, reducing contrast. Coffee without bleaching gives a pretty purplish tone.
After a fiddling around with my technique for a while, I finally got a really crisp, contrasty cyanotype print. Next step is to make several more under the same conditions, and then start experimenting with toning.
I've also used juices. Blueberry juice, freshly made. Butterfly Pea Flower is also really interesting if you don't know about it as it reacts/changes color when you add an acid (e.g. lemon juice), so you can use it with and without acid for different results.
Another creative and very cool video! I have used tea to tone cyanotype prints, and gold chloride for Kallitype. The recipes I have found for gold toner for silver gelatine have always seemed quite expensive. How's the shelf life of your gold toner?
@@paulstillwell Seems to do quite well. This has been sitting for a year and worked well. It’s my understanding that this toner is very stable and over time the Gold gets used up. Then toning takes longer till it’s unbearable. Thanks!
Interesting experiment. I wonder if selenium toning would work in this situation similarly to gold, as it would be much less expensive. I haven't tried toning darkroom prints, but have tried black tea and instant coffee with cyanotypes, either bleached with sodium carbonate or unbleached. I prefer coffee, the tea browns all the paper more, which I didn't like as it reduced the contrast of the cyanotype. Coffee works well, giving a nice pale brown image but the unexposed parts of the image stay whiter. Coffee without pre-bleaching gives a really nice pale purple look to the cyanotypes. Will try coffee with darkroom print, but all I have is Ilford VC fiber paper, I wonder if it will take the toning.
@@oudviola I think the Ilford paper should stain well in coffee, just a browner tone. The Gold toner tones cooler than Selenium though you could get a good tone with Selenium as well. Who knows might even like it more. I keep gold toner on hand for Lith prints and sometimes after sepia as you can get some intense and beautiful colors… but yeah it’s gold and with that some cost.
very intersting, heard about this in the past but never tried it! what are the archival characteristics of such staining? I suspect the stain might go away after a while, leaving the print looking very different... guess I'll have to test ;)
thanks for the video. with instant coffee (nescafe f.e.) i had more homogeneous results than with tea and the print looks more like the old chamois papers, f. e. Agfa Brovira Chamois
Interesting idea. Tea on its own is neutral to alkali, sadly the Earl Gray tea is acidic, perhaps due to the scenting with bergamot which is a citrus. Acid is the enemy of your print. Just be mindful of how acidic tea can be.
@@lensman5762 Thank you, I did not know that! The print looks lovely, I imagine a few minutes will not have any impact especially having a full wash after but… will have to head back to the store.
I am sorry for you, because at least partially you grew up in the wrong era. From your results here, I don't think you have any real idea of what toning can do for a print, because you are forced to use papers with exceedingly limited silver content. For the past 50 years or so I have only printed on AZO and Centennial. AZO was the sequella to POP (print out paper), and Centennial was POP paper. Of course, AZO was a silver chloride paper, and had an extremely rich silver content. I was friends with Michael Smith (I outlived him), and when Kodak made him the sole distributor of AZO (early 1990's) I purchased a lifetime's supply of it. I could see the handwriting on the wall . . . Centennial: I got together with three other people and commissioned their very last run in 2000. Then we distributed the results. Anyway, both papers toned exceptionally well. With AZO I just use Kodak Selenium Toner, and the paper never really moves to the nasty red yellows that your modern papers do with overtoning. Selenium combined with very slight amounts of Na+ Sulfite (PH 9) will move you initially into the warm tones (kind of a slight plumb, light albumen color) and as the sulfite is depleted will you visit the colder colors (I go for the very slight purples). But the tones in these papers are luxurious and just beautifully complex, and absolutely nothing like what your modern papers deliver. Great video! I am glad you covered this subject matter!
Interesting. I was unaware that the silver content affected the tendency toward the reddish tones with selenium. Most of today's papers are VC and split toning tends to be an issue with Ilford, significantly less so with Foma, which tones MUCH faster (I use 1:80 to keep it under some control). I don't know why the Foma's high values tone more easily than Ilford's; I'm no chemist.
@@philipu150 Well, you are on the right track, but not quite there. The more silver the more a reaction is driven. So the older silver laiden papers will always produce a more saturated and rich tone. But beyond that, if you add an alkaline (borax was the standard) you will point your tones towards colder values (purple, blue, etc). Acids will give you warmer colors (plum, chocolate). No toner but properly fixed will give you a nasty kind of yellow with the old papers. If you spend much time around albumen or Pop prints you will immediately notice all of this. Because otherwise not using any toner the prints were just a nasty yellow-red color. Not very esthetic. You will see a lot of that, too. Selenium did not become a standard until the silver bromide papers came into their own. Say, in the 1920's. Selenium works really well on AZO, but not so rich on POP and albumen. AZO had less silver is the reason why. (Even though it had a very high silver content). WIth POP Centennial, the first thing you do in processing is wash the print in water. And, when you do that, the content is so silver rich, the water has a highly milky appearance from all of that excess silver just washing off.
@@callmeBe I am envious for sure! Never worked with AZO and have limited contact printing experience. I nearly bought some AZO when it was being sold but never could justify and never pulled the trigger Some of my favorites were from Kodak and Emaks (which I still have a stash for Lith) I do find I love the new vc papers available though can tell they have more built in contrast (incorporated dev in emulsion) I remember having much more tonal control with developers when I was younger. Now not so much. But like you said some of the best was on its way out when I was getting into it or so I’ve heard. Thanks for the ph tip with Selenium!
@@Distphoto Sorry, I am really old. So, I generally reference older things. So, in that respect: Edward Weston said this (or close it): "one camera, one film, one paper . . ." Whatever you have, stick to it for awhile--at least until you learn enough to know why and how to switch to something else. Glad you didn't get the AZO! You would never be satisfied after you depleted the paper. On the selenium, don't take my word. This is only for older technologies. Saying all of this, I see a box of 500 sheets of AZO grade 2 on eBAY at this very moment. What they are selling was AZO from one of their last Kodak runs. So, you would need a punchy developer for it--pyrocat or pyro ABC. Newer developers can't deliver punch (contrast) like the older ones do. Good luck in what you are doing!
Tea toner here. Love it!
@@CristianGeelen many many possibilities! Thanks
I've tea toned cyanotypes but never silver gelatins. Definitely going to try this.
I prefer coffee with cyanotypes, as tea turns the white areas brownish more than coffee, reducing contrast. Coffee without bleaching gives a pretty purplish tone.
After a fiddling around with my technique for a while, I finally got a really crisp, contrasty cyanotype print. Next step is to make several more under the same conditions, and then start experimenting with toning.
Im brand new to printing so cool to know you can use tea to get that sepia look it turned out great!
Good video. I have used coffee on Ilford post card stock to stain the print then sent the card to my favorite coffee shop. They liked it.
@@constantinestewart7416 Such a cool idea 👍👍👍
Received Test Strip Printer, delighted with it, super quality product. Thanks for making it available. Cheers
@@stephendeakin2714 Awesome to hear, Thanks for letting me know!
I had some success with red wine. You can water it down a bit. Was a fun rainy-day experiment.
@@lostintransitphoto Thinking red wine might give me the same type of look I am after!
I've also used juices. Blueberry juice, freshly made. Butterfly Pea Flower is also really interesting if you don't know about it as it reacts/changes color when you add an acid (e.g. lemon juice), so you can use it with and without acid for different results.
@@culleysmith Interesting… have not heard of this. Will look into it, thanks!
Another creative and very cool video! I have used tea to tone cyanotype prints, and gold chloride for Kallitype. The recipes I have found for gold toner for silver gelatine have always seemed quite expensive. How's the shelf life of your gold toner?
@@paulstillwell Seems to do quite well. This has been sitting for a year and worked well. It’s my understanding that this toner is very stable and over time the Gold gets used up. Then toning takes longer till it’s unbearable.
Thanks!
Very cool!
@@CD-kc5op Thank you!
Interesting experiment. I wonder if selenium toning would work in this situation similarly to gold, as it would be much less expensive. I haven't tried toning darkroom prints, but have tried black tea and instant coffee with cyanotypes, either bleached with sodium carbonate or unbleached. I prefer coffee, the tea browns all the paper more, which I didn't like as it reduced the contrast of the cyanotype. Coffee works well, giving a nice pale brown image but the unexposed parts of the image stay whiter. Coffee without pre-bleaching gives a really nice pale purple look to the cyanotypes. Will try coffee with darkroom print, but all I have is Ilford VC fiber paper, I wonder if it will take the toning.
@@oudviola I think the Ilford paper should stain well in coffee, just a browner tone. The Gold toner tones cooler than Selenium though you could get a good tone with Selenium as well. Who knows might even like it more. I keep gold toner on hand for Lith prints and sometimes after sepia as you can get some intense and beautiful colors… but yeah it’s gold and with that some cost.
Same reason I have the gold. Lith and after sepia it can get pretty wild 😀
very intersting, heard about this in the past but never tried it! what are the archival characteristics of such staining? I suspect the stain might go away after a while, leaving the print looking very different... guess I'll have to test ;)
I do not have personal prints that are old enough to say... but from what I have read the stain is quite permanent 👍
@@Distphoto thanks for the info! I'll see for myself once I finally manage to get some free time for myself...
Sally Mann loves using tea.
I heard she’s pretty good 😂
Yes, Incredible!!!
thanks for the video. with instant coffee (nescafe f.e.) i had more homogeneous results than with tea and the print looks more like the old chamois papers, f. e. Agfa Brovira Chamois
@@ChristophFrank-on2po Cool, I will have to give it a try, thanks!
Done this and coffee and even wine in the past.
@@terrywbreedlove how were the results with wine?
@@Distphoto actually worked out great people really liked it.
@@terrywbreedlove Awesome, thanks!
Nice and subtle staining there. If you want not-subtle-at-all, try a couple of shots of espresso. Turns out yellowish 👌
@@filibertkraxner305 That sounds interesting… I do love a good shot of espresso ☕️😀. Thanks!
👍
Interesting idea. Tea on its own is neutral to alkali, sadly the Earl Gray tea is acidic, perhaps due to the scenting with bergamot which is a citrus. Acid is the enemy of your print. Just be mindful of how acidic tea can be.
@@lensman5762 Thank you, I did not know that! The print looks lovely, I imagine a few minutes will not have any impact especially having a full wash after but… will have to head back to the store.
I am sorry for you, because at least partially you grew up in the wrong era. From your results here, I don't think you have any real idea of what toning can do for a print, because you are forced to use papers with exceedingly limited silver content. For the past 50 years or so I have only printed on AZO and Centennial. AZO was the sequella to POP (print out paper), and Centennial was POP paper. Of course, AZO was a silver chloride paper, and had an extremely rich silver content. I was friends with Michael Smith (I outlived him), and when Kodak made him the sole distributor of AZO (early 1990's) I purchased a lifetime's supply of it. I could see the handwriting on the wall . . . Centennial: I got together with three other people and commissioned their very last run in 2000. Then we distributed the results. Anyway, both papers toned exceptionally well. With AZO I just use Kodak Selenium Toner, and the paper never really moves to the nasty red yellows that your modern papers do with overtoning. Selenium combined with very slight amounts of Na+ Sulfite (PH 9) will move you initially into the warm tones (kind of a slight plumb, light albumen color) and as the sulfite is depleted will you visit the colder colors (I go for the very slight purples). But the tones in these papers are luxurious and just beautifully complex, and absolutely nothing like what your modern papers deliver. Great video! I am glad you covered this subject matter!
Interesting. I was unaware that the silver content affected the tendency toward the reddish tones with selenium. Most of today's papers are VC and split toning tends to be an issue with Ilford, significantly less so with Foma, which tones MUCH faster (I use 1:80 to keep it under some control). I don't know why the Foma's high values tone more easily than Ilford's; I'm no chemist.
@@philipu150 Well, you are on the right track, but not quite there. The more silver the more a reaction is driven. So the older silver laiden papers will always produce a more saturated and rich tone. But beyond that, if you add an alkaline (borax was the standard) you will point your tones towards colder values (purple, blue, etc). Acids will give you warmer colors (plum, chocolate). No toner but properly fixed will give you a nasty kind of yellow with the old papers. If you spend much time around albumen or Pop prints you will immediately notice all of this. Because otherwise not using any toner the prints were just a nasty yellow-red color. Not very esthetic. You will see a lot of that, too. Selenium did not become a standard until the silver bromide papers came into their own. Say, in the 1920's. Selenium works really well on AZO, but not so rich on POP and albumen. AZO had less silver is the reason why. (Even though it had a very high silver content). WIth POP Centennial, the first thing you do in processing is wash the print in water. And, when you do that, the content is so silver rich, the water has a highly milky appearance from all of that excess silver just washing off.
Paper has no silver......
@@callmeBe I am envious for sure! Never worked with AZO and have limited contact printing experience. I nearly bought some AZO when it was being sold but never could justify and never pulled the trigger
Some of my favorites were from Kodak and Emaks (which I still have a stash for Lith)
I do find I love the new vc papers available though can tell they have more built in contrast (incorporated dev in emulsion) I remember having much more tonal control with developers when I was younger. Now not so much.
But like you said some of the best was on its way out when I was getting into it or so I’ve heard.
Thanks for the ph tip with Selenium!
@@Distphoto Sorry, I am really old. So, I generally reference older things. So, in that respect: Edward Weston said this (or close it): "one camera, one film, one paper . . ." Whatever you have, stick to it for awhile--at least until you learn enough to know why and how to switch to something else. Glad you didn't get the AZO! You would never be satisfied after you depleted the paper. On the selenium, don't take my word. This is only for older technologies. Saying all of this, I see a box of 500 sheets of AZO grade 2 on eBAY at this very moment. What they are selling was AZO from one of their last Kodak runs. So, you would need a punchy developer for it--pyrocat or pyro ABC. Newer developers can't deliver punch (contrast) like the older ones do. Good luck in what you are doing!