I’ve been experimenting with cyanotype at home because it is a relatively straightforward, non-toxic alternative process. There isn’t room for a darkroom setup in this apartment, but a heavy piece of plate glass and a drawing board that I can fashion into a solar contact printer don’t take up too much space.

However, I dislike Prussian blue photographs. So I’ve begun trying various toners to see what kinds of effects are possible with non-toxic materials. I documented the most recent session to share here.

I created two different toners: green tea and onion skin. I made highly concentrated formulations of each.

How much onion skin? As much as would fit in this pot. I wrapped the onion skins in cheesecloth and boiled them in water until the liquid turned a deep orange color.

7 bags of green tea create a concentrated toning solution.

As the toners cooled, I set up my trays like this:

Here’s my setup for the process, which moves left to right. Not pictured: the final water bath.

Some Notes on the Process

-The prints became much brighter during their pre-soak in the first water bath, with details returning that had been lost during dry-down. It’s helpful to remember that they will dry down again. 

-Prints turn a purplish-gray in the bleach bath. They return to cyan by the 2-minute mark of the stop bath. Color shifts from the toner baths may take longer.

-A bleach time of 30 seconds worked well for most prints. I tried bleaching overexposed prints for a minute to see if it would reduce enough to brighten the final image, but ultimately, those that were overexposed stayed that way. 

-I left prints in the green tea toner for four hours, and in the onion skin toner for two.

-I set up this print washer on a milk crate in our utility sink. I did a final wash of 45 minutes, shuffling the prints every 15 minutes before hanging them to dry.

My collapsible drying system: a folding clothes-drying rack and clean, cyanotype-only clothespins.

Results

The green tea has a violet influence on the cyanotype emulsion you can see in the above image, which was taken while the prints were still wet. It creates deep eggplant to black tones, depending on the paper used, toner temperature, and duration of the soak. Less staining occurs with green tea than with black tea or onion toners, especially on certain high-quality papers.

This was my first time using onion skin toner. While the prints were still wet, I hated the bright orange stain imparted to the paper. But–it mellowed as it dried, resulting in a warm, deep golden background color. I really like the deep brown, almost black tonality I achieved with the onion toner.

With cyanotype toning, I suggest not judging your print until it’s dry.

Before and after onion skin tannin toning a 4x5 contact print on Arches Platine

Before and after green tea tannin toning a 4x5 contact print on Arches Aquarelle.

Before and after green tea tannin toning 4x5 contact prints on Arches Aquarelle.

Before and after green tea tannin toning a 4x5 contact print on Arches Platine.