Selenium Toner

[Annibale G.]

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Hello,

does anyone use selenium toner on ilford warmtone paper? what kind of diluition do you use? What about results?

Thanks

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[tobey bilek]

I have one 11x14 hanging on a wall toned that way. I got wat used to be called warm brown 50 years ago. Cold brown is like a dark chocolate. Warm is more a Hershey or milk chocolate with a touch of sepia.

 

Only the darks tone max and middle less and whites none at all. Dyes are more uniform

 

Two things influence the final color, developer and toner dilution. It has been a long time but the developer was probably Bromophen but a slight chance it was Dektol.

 

Make up some 4x5 prints from Bromophen, then dilute selenium 1 oz to 3 oz water and tone one print. Add 6 oz water so the mix is 1:9 and tone a second one. Then add 10 more so it is 19:1. Tone a third.

 

Tone them all for 60 sec with a light over the toner tray and an untoned wet print on the counter next to the one in the toner bath. Watch the progress by comparison. At this point you may want to try longer times specially with more dilute toners.

 

Do a 30 sec rinse after second fix and go straight into toner, then archival wash. The alturnative is fix, archival wash sequence, tone, archival wash again. Selenium will stain with small amounts of fix, but not with large which is why it works straight from the fix/rinse.

 

You will get a colder brown from Dektol 1:2.

 

This whole process is to please you, so try different things with small prints and then apply to larger ones.

 

RC prints require 15 sec after fix.

 

Establish a semi permanent light for inspection with a 60 watt bulb. You need this untoned work anyway so you a uniform reference.

[jpattison]

Don't forget to do these tests in a well ventilated area, or wear a mask, as the fumes are horrid.

Wear gloves, as well.

This is from the Ilford website...

 

ILFORD PHOTO - Selenium Toning

 

 

John

[H. James Wolf]

I use selenium toner - Kodak - mixed 1 part toner to 9 parts water with Ilford warmtone RC multigrade. A slight tone starts to appear at one minute and gets more obvious by a minute and a half.