Berg Brilliant Blue Toner

Berg Brilliant Blue Toner

 

 

Last week while in the film developing area, I came across a a jug of some blue toner. I thought it looked really interesting so I asked David about it. David said it has been years since anyone has used it, but that I could try it if I wanted to. 

 

 I did a little bit of research and found this article ( link ) that gives a good explanation on both how to use it, and how the chemical reaction takes place.

 

 

I started off with a throwaway print. I put this in the toner for approximately 5 minutes and watched as it slowly became a deeper blue.

 

 

 I really liked the results, however, I did learn that the blue toner requires constant agitation otherwise the blue will overflow onto the boarders... I guess maybe this wouldn't matter if the print did not have boarders? But I like my prints with boarders, so I will stick with constant agitation.

After a few more tests, I decided that I was happy with 30 seconds of constant agitation in the blue toner. This is what I did for all of my prints for the "Diving for Pearls" assignment.

I really love the look of the blue toner. I would probably use it on all of my prints if we had the resources for it - But there is not much of it in the lab and I doubt that more will be brought in considering the fact that no one uses it.