simple sepia toner formula?

[Tim Meisburger]

I have spent the morning trolling around the internet and browsing dusty books looking for the formula for simple sepia (sodium sulfide) toner, and I have found it about eight times. The problem is that not a single one agrees.

All the dilutions are different, and some make a concentrate for dilution and some mix for use, but allowing for that, they still don't match.

If any of you regularly use such toner, I would appreciate the formula you use.

Best, Tim

[Ulophot]

What, Tim? You let dust get on your books?

I've stuck with selenium, after using sepia for a few things many years ago, but good to hear from you. Got anything to post, or have I just been missing them? All the best.

[Jim Noel]

Hypo Alum Sepia Toner T-1a
This toner will cause a loss of print density and contrast. You
can compensate for this by increasing the exposure time and
the development time when you make your prints.
Mix the toner as follows:
Hypo Alum Sepia Toner T-1a
1. Place a tray in a tempered water bath. Pour the toner into
the tray, and heat the water to 49°C (120°F).
2. Immerse a thoroughly washed print in the toner, and
agitate it occasionally, especially during the first few
minutes of toning. Tone for 12 to 15 minutes, depending
on the paper type. Don’t tone prints for longer than
20 minutes at 49°C (120°F), and don’t use a higher
temperature. (Prints will blister or stain at higher
temperatures.)
3. Rinse the print in warm water, and wipe it with a soft
sponge to remove any sediment.
Wash fiber-base prints in running water at 18 to 24°C
(65 to 75°F) for one hour, or use Hypo Clearing Agent to
reduce the wash time; wash resin-coated prints for 4 minutes.
Water at 20°C (68°F) 2.8 L
Sodium thiosulfate (pentahydrated) 480 g
Mix thoroughly; then add the following solution:
Water at 70°C (160°F) 640 mL
Potassium alum (dodecahydrated) 120 g
Then add the following solution (including the precipitate)
slowly to the hypo alum solution while stirring rapidly*:
* When you combine the solutions, a black precipitate may form. It will
not adversely affect the toning action of the bath if you use the proper
toning technique.
Water at 20°C (68°F) 64 mL
Silver nitrate, crystals†
† Let the silver nitrate dissolve completely before you add the sodium
chloride.
4 g
Sodium chloride 4 g
After combining the solutions, add—
Water at 20°C (68°F) to make 4 L

[Tim Meisburger]

What, Tim? You let dust get on your books?

I've stuck with selenium, after using sepia for a few things many years ago, but good to hear from you. Got anything to post, or have I just been missing them? All the best.

No, nothing yet. I just got caught up in work and then uncertainty about where I would live, and didn't have a darkroom; but I'm settled now and built a little darkroom in my basement workshop, so happy to get going again. I've been printing some old negatives, and there are a few that look like they would be nice in sepia. Hopefully, when its a bit warmer I'll get out and shoot up the film that has been in my refrigerator for years, but for now, just printing.

[Tim Meisburger]

Hypo Alum Sepia Toner T-1a
This toner will cause a loss of print density and contrast. You
can compensate for this by increasing the exposure time and
the development time when you make your prints.
Mix the toner as follows:
Hypo Alum Sepia Toner T-1a
1. Place a tray in a tempered water bath. Pour the toner into
the tray, and heat the water to 49°C (120°F).
2. Immerse a thoroughly washed print in the toner, and
agitate it occasionally, especially during the first few
minutes of toning. Tone for 12 to 15 minutes, depending
on the paper type. Don’t tone prints for longer than
20 minutes at 49°C (120°F), and don’t use a higher
temperature. (Prints will blister or stain at higher
temperatures.)
3. Rinse the print in warm water, and wipe it with a soft
sponge to remove any sediment.
Wash fiber-base prints in running water at 18 to 24°C
(65 to 75°F) for one hour, or use Hypo Clearing Agent to
reduce the wash time; wash resin-coated prints for 4 minutes.
Water at 20°C (68°F) 2.8 L
Sodium thiosulfate (pentahydrated) 480 g
Mix thoroughly; then add the following solution:
Water at 70°C (160°F) 640 mL
Potassium alum (dodecahydrated) 120 g
Then add the following solution (including the precipitate)
slowly to the hypo alum solution while stirring rapidly*:
* When you combine the solutions, a black precipitate may form. It will
not adversely affect the toning action of the bath if you use the proper
toning technique.
Water at 20°C (68°F) 64 mL
Silver nitrate, crystals†
† Let the silver nitrate dissolve completely before you add the sodium
chloride.
4 g
Sodium chloride 4 g
After combining the solutions, add—
Water at 20°C (68°F) to make 4 L

That's a complicated formula! I'm actually just looking for grams of sodium sulfide to a liter of water, and whether or how it is diluted for use. But I am hoping it reduces density, as I want to tone over-exposed test prints, rather than the good print I finally made.

[Erik Larsen]

Tim, you can make a stock solution of roughly 50 grams of sodium sulfide in 500ml of water and dilute it for working solution at 100ml stock in a liter of water or you can just add roughly 10 grams of sodium sulfide to a liter if you don’t want to keep a stock solution. I don’t think it’s necessary to be exact with this toner formula. You just need enough sodium sulfide to get the job done after you bleach the print in ferri/bromide solution. Keep any film or paper away or you might chemically fog it. It’s a stinky formula! A thiourea formula is easier on the nose with similar results if rotten eggs aren’t your thing…

[koraks]

A thiourea formula is easier on the nose with similar results if rotten eggs aren’t your thing…
And more flexible w.r.t. the image tone to boot! The only disadvantage is that a thiourea toner can't be used for direct toning; the print needs to be bleached. Sulfide can be used for direct toning - with sufficient patience.

I once did some experiments with a makeshift direct sepia toner made by mixing a little sulfuric acid into some rapid fixer and letting the print soak in that mixture for (quite) some time. Be warned, this releases a lot of SO2 and sulfur will precipitate. The sulfer can be washed off of the print, but the mixing of the thiosulfate (fixer) and acid needs to be done outside or under a fume hood. The toner worked (quite well, in fact), but an indirect thiourea toner is much faster, doesn't smell, gives control over image tone and is more consistent.

[esearing]

photographers formulary toners/ (https://stores.photoformulary.com/toners/) See the tech sheets or just buy a kit to try.

[Tim Meisburger]

Tim, you can make a stock solution of roughly 50 grams of sodium sulfide in 500ml of water and dilute it for working solution at 100ml stock in a liter of water or you can just add roughly 10 grams of sodium sulfide to a liter if you don’t want to keep a stock solution. I don’t think it’s necessary to be exact with this toner formula. You just need enough sodium sulfide to get the job done after you bleach the print in ferri/bromide solution. Keep any film or paper away or you might chemically fog it. It’s a stinky formula! A thiourea formula is easier on the nose with similar results if rotten eggs aren’t your thing…

This seems right. After a lot of research, I have eight formulas for bleach, the most common being PF=100 and PB=100 for one liter of water (including one from Ilford), but another (also from Ilford) uses 50/50, and others reduce PB and add sodium carbonate in some quantity. Since the bleach is used to exhaustion, I guess the concentration doesn't really matter. Unless there is a compelling reason to add sodium carbonate, I think I'll keep it simple and go with Ilford number 2, and your suggestion, and use 50/50.

I also have eight formulas for toner, and the partial consensus there is 5 grams per liters for the working solution, with the stock solution mixed at either 50 grams per liter and used 9 to one, or 45 grams per liter and used 8 to one. Since the math for the first is easier, and the concentration is the same, I'll use that.

So, what I get for 500ml of each solution is:
Bleach - potassium ferrocyanide 25 grams, then potassium bromide 25 grams, store and re-use to exhaustion
Toner - sodium sulfide 25 grams for stock solution, mix 1-9 and discard after toning session.

This just happens to be the second Ilford, which I found in an old Ilford Multigrade Paper book. Since I'm toning Ilford multigrade, this should work. If not, I'll try again. The overall lesson, just throw some stuff in there. It'll be fine...

[PRJ]

I don't even bother with a formula anymore. I put a small spoon (very small, smaller than a baby spoon) of ferricyanide and bromide in water for the bleach then just chuck some sulfide into some water. The bleach is the only thing that matters for concentration. It just depends on how fast you want to bleach and/or if you only want to partially bleach. There is no real reason to weigh everything out to the nth degree. I suspect that I am only in the couple grams/liter area on the bleach since I only partially bleach. Standard bleach concentration is pretty fast and will completely bleach the print if that is what you are going for.