Cyanotype print toning – Coffee toner

Urban Ashes (No. 094853) copyright 2022/2024 Douglas Stockdale –

For my on-going environmental project Urban Ashes (yes, the project name as slightly morphed again), while evaluating some cyanotypes prints, the blue just did not entire resonate with me. Seemed too cheerful and not dire enough for my subjects. I was intrigued in how other alternative photographic processes might work. Thus I acquired the how-to books for Salted Paper and Van Dyke Brown printing and after studying these, it appeared that I would need to employ a two step process to obtain the smoky visual appearance I wanted for the Urban Ashes prints; e.g. make a Van Dyke Brown print and then tone it. Heck, if I was going to need to tone these other alt-process prints, why not just tone my cyanotype prints?? I already had the cyanotype print to work with.

The easiest way to start with cyanotype print toning was using the classic tea and coffee toning process which would shift the cyanotype blue towards a brown. I had plenty of coffee to work with but all of my tea is decaf, which was not recommended, so I bought a small box of Irish Black Tea.

For cyanotype print toning there are two basic methodologies and then a bunch of alternatives with those two; which is to bleach the cyanotype print before toning or trying toning without any bleaching. For me, simpler is better, so I was going to first try toning with any bleaching, nevertheless, I did buy the two basic types of print bleaching agents; sodium carbonate (washing soda) and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).

Below is my first try making a coffee toned cyanotype print and not illustrated is my tea toned print, which is a lighter version of the coffee tone print. The coffee toned print was closer to what I was pre-visualizing for this series; dark and foreboding, that the brown tone could simulate a smoky look in the aftermath of a devastating firestorm. What was most intriguing with the coffee toned print (without the pre-bleaching) is the slight split-toning of the sky. What was vexing was the toning of the highlights, as I wanted to keep some whites, while the entire sheet of paper was stained brown. So I set the cyanotype toning project aside while contemplating next steps.

I then acquired the Cyanotype Toning how-to book by Annette Golaz, which is a gold-mine of information for toning with various herbs. I had observed in the Facebook Cyanotype group some folks who were toning their prints while keeping much of their white highlights and they kept pointing back to Golaz’s Toning book as their guidance. Worth checking out, eh?

The first important thing I found was a paper chart related to print staining and clearing (wash-out) times. The paper I used for my coffee toning is the Legion Revere Platinum cotton hot press rag, which regretfully according to Golaz has a tendency towards medium stain and longer clearing (I now agree). The good news was the other paper I have, Hahnemuehle Platinum Rag (HPR) has light staining and average clearing time.

Thus, my second attempt at coffee toning (above) was to use HPR, boil my coffee grounds (Peet’s Major Dickerson) for 5 minutes after brewing it, and then use a shortly toning duration (for this print, only toned for half-hour). For my first attempt, I had the print in the coffee toner for about two hours. No pre-bleach, which would have eliminated all of the blue, while I was now attempting to achieve a blue-brown split tone appearance. (in my opinion, the print image above seems to drift to a greenish blue hue and I have some trouble getting the illustration to look exactly like the bluish color in my print). There is still some mild paper staining with the HPR, nevertheless, the final split-tone print is really on line with my pre-visualization; eerie sky and foreground.

There are still some work-arounds to try to improve the highlights, such as a Q-tip dipped in the milder bleach or I could hand-color with some prismacolor pencils, or even use some opaque watercolor paint. For the time being I am allowing this split-tone print to sit by my monitor, working my other projects and contemplating next step.

I have also acquired some dried wild strawberry leaves for my next toning experiment courtesy of the Golaz’s toning suggestions that this might shift the cyanotype color towards a dark gray or black.

Make every day an Earth Day

Doug

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Artist book still available:

 The Flow of Light Brushes the Shadow, an artist book from Singular Images Press, 2022, $60.00 (CA sales tax for those residing in the USA) plus shipping expenses. Message me douglas.stockdale.artist@gmail.com

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Urban Ashes (No. 094853) copyright 2022/2024 Douglas Stockdale – (coffee toning)