Toning a Six-Pack

Man, it'd be nice if the title of this post wasn't just a bad pun. Oh well. Actually, instead of getting bitchin' abs what I'm doing today is working on some cyanotypes. I'll be teaching a workshop on alternative processes at the Light Factory (check 'em out!) in the near future and it's got me wanting some examples of my own for cyanotype toning.

Yes, there are dozens of places online you can go to get good examples of cyanotypes being toned. I just want my own results because in the past when I've toned cyanotypes (and while at ECU I did every toning technique I could wrangle chemistry for) I haven't made side-by-side comparisons and now I really regret that since I no longer have easy, free access to bunches of random types of chemistry. My boss isn't big on spending money so that I can laugh maniacally to myself while wearing goggles, rubber gloves and a big black apron.

I just finished making four exposures, each 50 minutes long, of the same negative. Two of the exposures are already lighter than the others. Clouds, I'm guessing, since I do my cyanotypes outside in sunlight. I'm going to be doing examples of:

• Ammonia Bleaching
• Borax Bleaching
• SuperTea (Tannic Acid) Toning
• Ammonia + SuperTea
• Borax + SuperTea
• Un-toned
• Selenium Bleaching
• Dektol Toning

It'll take a few days to get all the results, since it's best to allow cyanotypes to fully dry (at least overnight) before toning them and best to let them dry again fully before scanning the images to avoid distortion from dry-down tonal shifts. 

I wish I had some pure Tannic Acid laying around, but it's kinda pricey. I might look at buying some, along with some soda ash, after the summer. Summer's tight on a budget when you're a teacher.