First, immerse your print in a tray filled with water for a couple of minutes.
The temperature is not important; let your print dip and put it over the working place, taking care of whipping it with blotting paper without rubbing it, otherwise you will make scratches on the surface.
Begin with a partial or total bleach of the parts whose you are not interested (for example the background) or you want to eliminate or make them less striking.
Ever dilute the bleach 1+1 or more, so that it will be easier to control its effect.
After each bleach let follow a long washing to eliminate the yellow stain left by the treatment, then fix again so that the image will be exactly like we wanted.
The fixing time will be about 5 minutes, then wash thoroughly.
Once completed the bleach phase, you can go further on with a sepia or brown toner based on sulphide, selenium or thiourea (thiocarbammate). The first toner applied will ever be the brown one.
Bleach the part where we want tone with sulphide with the proper bleach, let it work enough, wash in running water, then tone by means of a diluted (1+1) solution. Wash again, dip and wipe, and you will be ready for a new step.
It is very important to know that the sepia toner, on the contrary of copper and iron toners, cannot be recovered by means of a new developing of that part. If by a mistake the bleach went on a part that you do not want to colorize, it is enough to develop again with a normal paper developer to have it again in b/w. The only substance able to convert again in b/w a sepia toned image is the amidol (XXX), a chemical for developers used the last century.
To continue working with other toners (i.e. the copper one), you will need the monobath type; that is, before the use two solutions will be mixed together. The toner begins to work where you have put it, and in the meanwhile it copper tone that part.
If you are usin a two-baths formula, that is first you bleach the part needed, then wash and copper tone (lead nitrate/acetate bleach), the process is the same... mistakes included!
We remember that if you put the toner out of the borders, or by a mistake a drop of toner goes on the image, it is enough to develop it again with a paper developer to have it again in b/w.
| sepia | bromide bleach | sulphide - thiourea - selenium toner |
| sepia | lead nitrate bleach | sulphide - thiourea - selenium toner |
| blue | lead nitrate bleach | ferric oxalate- citrate- chloride toner |
| blue | monobath | ferric oxalate- citrate- chloride toner |
| yellow | lead nitrate bleach | dichromate toner |
| green | lead nitrate bleach | ferric chloride + dichromate toner |
| red-copper | monobath | copper sulphate toner |
| red-copper | lead nitrate bleach | copper chloride toner |
| brown | monobath | AGFA - Viradon sulphoseleniure toning |
| brown | monobath | KODAK Rapid Selenium Toner |
| red/brown | monobath | TETENAL gold toner after the sepia one |
| sodium carbonate | to bring back in B&N (sepia tone) a blue - green -red image |
| ammonia | for cleaning and making brighter the blue (iron) or red (copper) tone |
| hydrochloric acid | for cleaning and making brighter the blue (iron) tone |
| sodium hydrate | to help the bleach removing the silver image |
| E.D.T.A | to help rendering with violet hue the blue (iron) or red (copper) |
As for the various formulae, both for bleach and toning, see the paragraph devoted to the formulae.
The various hues changes with the type of paper and their brands. For local tonings like "Stellatelli's" it is advisable to use a mat surface (ILFORD / EFKE).