Topic: Cuppa tea anyone? And a question about tea toning.

[otto k]

I recently got around to trying some tea toning (or should that be staining) of prints.  This was nice as I could easily do it in my kitchen sink.  Based on my reading, I just used some regular store-bought black tea.  I did find out that I had to hang the prints to dry as laying them on my screens caused some pooling of residual tea left in the fiber print and it didn't come later -- luckily one print escape this problem.

So here is my first result from tea toning.

Hasselblad 501CM with 80mm CF lens using Rollei Retro 400 B&W film developed in Rodinal 1:50 scanned tea-stained darkroom print on Oriental warm-tone fiber paper

So does anyone have experience with tea toning?  I tried two different strengths for the tea baths, one double the strength of the other.  And for both, this was as far as the staining would go.  I'm happy with this, but I was trying to get a feel for what tea toning would do and have seen samples of it really going much further.  I even tried two different kinds of regular black tea.  Any suggestions or hints?  Thanks.

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[Andrea.]

Nice.
I tone with tea - ordinary tea and green tea too. after toning/staining, I wash the thing again and then hang to dry.

[roryot]

That tone is beautiful. Does the print remain like that if is hung on a wall? Or does the tone get darker over time? Must try this, can't afford chemical toners right now!

[otto k]

Well, I don't have a lot of experience with it, but from what I've read...tea toning, while not archival, is supposed to be fairly long lasting and stable.

[eddie]

Otto

I have had some success,  I use 5 teabags the stronger the better and I also add some very hot water and squeeze the tea bags a lot.  I have the print covered in  3 inches of water and tea with weights in the corners to hold down the prints. I leave them for a few hours and even overnight on some occasions.  Do not let the tea bags come into contact with the print at any time or you will get staining.   I do all this work in a large  sink.

[Maljac]

2 PG tip bags does the trick for me.

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