Faded Glory

As I've mentioned previously, I'm attempting to fully document various cyanotype toning processes that can be done easily at home with fairly safe chemistry. My old alternative process textbook, by Christopher James, has a great chapter on toning cyanotypes. In fact, James has made the whole cyanotype chapter available freely online. So that's very nice of him, should anyone want to investigate his notes. He doesn't provide many examples, but he does cover some toning techniques that I will not be working with. Anything that uses gallic acid, pyrogallic acid, lead acetate or nitric acid is out for me since I do not enjoy working with powdered toxins.

This article by Suzi Varin goes into some detail about her experiences with James' toning techniques. She's provided examples of all his processes, except for the two violet processes he lists. I'd love to hear from someone that actually tries the lead acetate violet-grey toning; I'm not brave enough to try that myself.

In the last post, I talked a bit (a lot) about SuperTea vs. Tannic Acid. Now I'm going to proceed with talking about the toners themselves. I'll make some more samples and examples once I get my shipment of tannic acid from B&H. Until now, SuperTea is what I've got results from.

Soaked in SuperTea, then bleached in Soda Ash

Taking a second aside, I want to reiterate something that James covers in his chapter: all the processes I've come across for toning cyanotypes involve a bleach that breaks down the pigment. Then, you're using tannic acid or gallic acid to build a new pigment. The exact color will depend on what type of bleach you used to break down the cyanotype in the first place. There are exceptions, but that's the general idea. You can stop right after the bleaching process. Mostly, this is going to get you some kind of yellow or greyish result where the cyanotype pigment is broken down.

So, let's get down to the actual effects shall we? I still have to try getting good scans for Dektol and Selenium, so those results will come later. My detergent experiments need some work, too, but I've presented preliminary notes on that.

Borax: This is my favorite bleach, and its easy to buy. 20 Mule Team Borax is the brand I find pretty commonly at grocery stores in the laundry section. I keep holding out hope that I'll be able to work out a way to preserve the violet color produced by using a borax solution on prints. So far, no. The violet remains only while the print is wet and dries out to a pale blue-lilac color. The tone is distinctly different from an unaffected cyanotype, but you'd almost need to look at them side-by-side to see it. Let your print sit in borax long enough and you'll get a yellowish-grey color. The blue won't ever fully disappear as it would in soda ash, but it will get patchy. Borax doesn't like to dilute really well, so I tend to just dump tons of the powder into water until it hits the saturation point, then filter off any remaining precipitate. This saturated borax-water can then be diluted down later, if you want. The best thing about borax, aside from the transitory violet created, is that it does great with tannic acid. Borax-bleached prints toned in tannic acid will turn a lovely maroon with hints of brown. It's really nice.

Detergent: Basic laundry detergent. Supposedly this works because it has washing soda in it, but it has distinctly different results. This one has to be carefully watched. High amounts of detergent will destroy your image in short order. You can work with 10% solutions very easily and get good results. Now, by 'good', I do not mean dramatic. Detergent is a nice way to lighten a cyanotype without introducing a massive change in tonality. It will eventually turn your print somewhat yellow, but the color effect is far less pronounced than the other bleaches.

Cyanotype in 1:50 bleach

Bleach: Ordinary household laundry bleach for this one. Yes, all the toning techniques have some kinda bleach involved somewhere. Now, its super easy to use too much bleach. I found that a 1-2% solution is more than enough. If you work much stronger than that, you're bleaching reaction will happen way, way too fast. I tried 10% and the image virtually vanished before my eyes, with almost no chance at all to remove the print and wash the bleach away. Tannic acid added to a bleached print will give you some decent browns, with a hint of red. However the result isn't as dramatic as what you can get with ammonia or soda ash or borax.

Soda Ash: Originally, I learned of soda ash as a dye fixative for textiles. However, it's also a detergent that can be used for cleaning or added to laundry. Turns out you can buy it, very cheaply, as "washing soda". No matter what you call it, sodium carbonate is a dry, white powder and a strong bleaching agent. It will turn your cyanotypes bright golden-yellow. It doesn't take much of the powder to create an effective bleach, maybe 1-2 tablespoons to a liter of water. This bleach can be used to do a blue-yellow split, and it's very pretty, but not as well balanced as bleach. Soda ash really shines when combined with tannic acid, where it creates a lovely brown or reddish black depending on your process.

Cyanotype in weak ammonia

Ammonia: When you first put your cyanotype in the ammonia, provided the ammonia mixture is strong enough, it will turn brilliant violet. This doesn't last at all. In fact, it disappears so quickly that I don't even think it could be scanned while wet. The ammonia will keep bleaching away your image unless you wash it off. Washing it off removes the purple. So, you're kinda stuck. However, after the violet color is gone your print will start to bleach normally. The bleaching is a yellow-blue split, much like bleach, but it leans more heavily towards the blue and grey end of the spectrum. Ammonia bleaching is flatter and lower contrast than bleach bleaching. When combined with tannic acid, ammonia will give you a bit more red in your browns than bleach or soda ash.


For full examples and more details on step-by-step processes, check out this section of my Flickr!