2023 First Darkroom Work (Part 2): Gradient and Selective Toning

The next phase of any lith printing I do tends to be toning. I never feel in control of my toning, but I manage to stumble into some interesting images as a result. Today I played with some sepia and gold toning but didn't really get anything I liked. I moved onto selenium toning as there can be some rather intense results. 

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I use a 1+3 dilution of selenium which always results in strong color changes. For most of my lith the end point (to completion) of selenium toning is a rusty red almost strong sepia tone as seen below. 

Wistow ORWO f11 23 sec burn sky 45 sec toned

On the way to this color, it passes through a cooler almost purple tone. This led me to think about getting a combination of tones though selective toning. I have done this before, and it works well for images with a strong line like a horizon. I dip the wet print only up to the point I want toned. I try and be careful about where the toner goes. The toner effect can lag quite a bit in time so it may not be apparent when you have had toner accidentally touch an area. To stop the toning, I place it in the wash bath, but this has to be done thoroughly as too short a time can mean the toning proceeds after it has been taken out of the water. 

I have also seen an effect where the edge of the toner bath contacts the paper causes a sharp line of more toning. This I would guess is due to surface tension intensifying the reaction on that line. To help alleviate this I add a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid to the toner. 

Wistow ORWO f16 23 sec burn sky 45 sec #1 toned

The above example is nice with a warmer tone in the sky. The ground is untoned. The print lacks the mix of warm and cooler tones possible with selenium on lith. 

For the next print I very gradually over a period of about three minutes submerged the print progressively in the toner starting at the top of the sky. This is a slow and patient process. The idea is to give the top of the print more time to soak in the toner with progressively less time down to the horizon line. The toner initially cools the warmth of the Oriental seagull lith tone, which is present in the foreground which remains untoned, before moving on to a warmer reddish tone at the top of the sky.  

Wistow Oriental Seagull f5-6 23 sec burn sky 23 sec toned