i was wondering if others have used coffee, tea and reed dyes as toners? can anyone tell me about how using this kind of toner effects the archival-ness of fiber prints? i have some images that i toned with tea and others with reed dye 15 years ago, and they still seem fine. i would rather use "natural dyes" than nasty chemicals.

thanks

-- john nanian (jak@gis.net), January 12, 2002

Answers

I know for certain that Sally Mann has experimented thoroughly with coffee and tea for toning and claims that they have proven to be archival in her experience.

-- Chad Jarvis (cjarvis@nas.edu), January 12, 2002.

Hi John

Its tea time! I did also 10 years ago some black tea use to make teh pictures looking like old ones and they still are fine. With coffee I have no expirience. Tea should be fine.

-- Armin Seeholzer (armin.seeholzer@smile.ch), January 12, 2002.

I used coffee on fiberbase paper over 25 years ago and haven't seen any damage yet. The aroma of coffee sure beats the stink of sepia toner.

-- Pat Kearns (pat.kearns@coopertsmith.com), January 14, 2002.

I can't speak to the archival quality of coffee, though I recently tried espresso (some year old stuff in the freezer) on Ilford Multigrade IV and was not impressed with any of the "toning" times I used. Might be worth experimenting with some of the Berg colors, however.

-- Scott Hamming (s.hamming@mindspring.com), January 14, 2002.