Necessary to fix between sepia and gold?

[Michael Wesik]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if it's necessary to fix in between sepia and gold if I'm fixing after the gold toner? I'm unclear after reading Tim Rudman's discourse and several other posts on this and other sites.

My regiment is:

- partial selenium in HCA
- 40min wash
- partial bleach
- rinse
- thiocarbamide 90 seconds (800ml thiocarb 5% solution + 400ml hydroxide 10% solution in 4L working)
- rinse
- plain hypo fix 10 min
- hypoclear 10-15 min
- wash 30 min
- GP-1 45 sec - 90 sec
- rinse
- plain hypo fix 10 min
- hypoclear 10-15 min
- final wash 45 min

I'm using Ilford warmtone paper. Love to hear your feedback.

Michael

[tgtaylor]

No. But a good wash after each toner is necessary.

Thomas

[Michael Wesik]

No. But a good wash after each toner is necessary.

Thomas

Thanks, Thomas.

[Steve Sherman]

FWIW. when split toning with Tiocarbamide I used to do a very short and very weak selenium prior to bleaching to anchor the blacks. The resulting highlights always shifted towards an unwanted magenta or red hue. I stopped the initial selenium and when right to a Pot Fer. / Pot Carb bleach and then approx 50/50 of Tiocarbamide and Sod. hydroxide toner and get a very nice warm split with both Warmtone and the new Classic.

2 cents. Cheers.

[Michael Wesik]

FWIW. when split toning with Tiocarbamide I used to do a very short and very weak selenium prior to bleaching to anchor the blacks. The resulting highlights always shifted towards an unwanted magenta or red hue. I stopped the initial selenium and when right to a Pot Fer. / Pot Carb bleach and then approx 50/50 of Tiocarbamide and Sod. hydroxide toner and get a very nice warm split with both Warmtone and the new Classic.

2 cents. Cheers.

Hi Steve, your two cents are much appreciated!

I've also found that the selenium treatment before the thiocarbamide provokes a slight colour response towards the brown/red. In the case of the print in question, it's an effect that I'm shooting for to give the image a depth in colouration beyond the sepia split alone. The short gold toning amplifies that even further.

I've never tried a potassium carbonate bleach, however. That's now on my radar!

Thanks!

Michael

[John Berry]

Like Steve I use selenium to lock the blacks in before thiocarbamide toning. To keep the tone out of the highs use a short gold toning between. The other two work from the bottom up, gold works from the top down. It's easier to keep the color out of the highs rather than try to remove it with the gold last.