I happened to accidentally figure out how to get the best black tones I have ever seen in a cyanotype a week or so ago which made me decide to do a video on toning and what I am calling "color shifting". In this video I am showing the different tones using instant coffee black tea green tea and tannic acid along with a final step using vinegar to shift the color to black or at least the best black I have seen so far. I had tried almost everything including 30% peroxide and several acids to no affect until I found some toning methods out of the book "the book of alternative photographic processes" as well as the book "cyanotype", I found several references saying to use tannic acid and Dektol to produce black cyanotypes and tried it but it did not really have much of an effect, finally online I found some articles comparing bleaching and toning chemicals and noticed a nice black toned image that said it was made using sodium carbonate to bleach and tannic and gallic acid to tone. With this information I was able to produce the best and most intense black I have ever been able to produce since I started making cyanotypes. Tannic acid is the best toning solution for making really good blacks with this method but a very close second is green tea so all you will need other than the cyanotype chemicals is sodium carbonate or "washing soda" green tea and vinegar to make amazing black prints. Note that the paper you use how strong your toning solution is and the amount of time you tone and wash your print is going to determine how much staining will happen. Black intensity will be determined by contrast and exposure time as well and you will not know exactly how dark the image will be until it has fully dried. Always allow your paper to dry at least 8 hours after coating before you expose it and allow it to dry 24 hours after processing it before toning. And yes there are other toning methods I have heard of from flowers to oak galls and there is a complete book on the subject but this is the simplest direct method to get the blackest blacks in a cyanotype print. If you are looking for a super black print darker than this you need to look at silver gelatin printing, carbon printing, kallitype printing or any of several other methods as this is already on the the limit of what cyanotypes can do. One last note, you can also combine toning agents like mixing one or more or all together to combine there toning ability's, this may be a good idea with the coffee as it may add more gray tones to the other ones.

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