Toning and Transfers

Yesterday and the night before I started playing around with photo transfers and then simultaneously with the Berg Brown/Copper Toning solution. First lets talk about the Toning process.

Mixing the toning solution is probably the hardest part of the whole process. The water needs to be between 65 & 70 degrees. I've gotten a little smarter on the water part and started refrigerating some to use in mixing my chemicals v. using ice to cool the mixtures AFTER they've been mixed. It's a lot easier. You mix Part A with Part B (by the way the mixture color isn't dark brown like I thought it would be, it's blue!) there can be some crystallized sediment and you will need to warm up the bottles to melt them. But in addition, there is also some stringy sediment floating around once you mix it and you will need to strain the solution before you use it. That's what took so long. It kept clogging up my funnel strainer and it probably took about 15 minutes to get it done.

I made the test strips with various times: 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 6 minutes, 8 minutes, and 15 minutes, as well as a full image. I was going for the so-called 'copper' look. Well, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. It's coppery-brown, but not metallic copper like I was thinking. However, I did like some of the results. I would probably stick with possibly 30 seconds and maybe even make it 45 seconds. That length of time is more of a very subtle sepia and still leaves some blacks/grays. I want to order some other toners, especially the selenium toner which adds to the life of your photographic image, as well as makes some of the blacks even blacker - so I hear. I'm not much into the blue toner.

On to the transfers. Instead of trying to come up with empty sheets of labels to use as the transfer paper, the instructions from Jill Enfield's Photo Imaging book said you could also use the dry mounting tissue protective sheets because they too are waxy. The first round using label sheets I was able to get one fairly good image. Using the dry mount sheets it got even better. BTW, I'm just using my old HP Office Jet because I don't want to ruin or clog up my Epson 2400. This is a great process for me because most transfers require Laser jet printers and I don't have one of those. I'm also having better results with 130 lb cold press water color paper. I tried different weights and types. You want a smooth surface for the transfer. I transferred some B&W photography as well as color. Also after the transfer you can take a wet paint brush and do some smoothing out of the image and/or add more water colors. I haven't had to add anything yet. I also made two of the same image and they came out different each time which is great! The same photo with two originals!

The only thing about both of these processes is that I don't want to leave my studio!! ; )