Toning a cyanotype with tea
A cyanotype is blue, but it can be toned to other colors, and tea is one way. This page quotes Jacquard’s toning sheet and adds no amounts of its own.
Why tone
“An unadulterated cyanotype will always be blue.” [Jacquard, Cyanotype FAQs]
“Cyanotypes can be toned to a variety of browns, blacks, yellows and more.” [Jacquard, Cyanotype FAQs]
Two steps
“Toning a cyanotype print generally involves two basic steps: a bleach step, and a toning step.” [Jacquard, Toning Cyanotype Prints]
“The bleach step requires a chemical with a high pH and involves “reducing” the blue iron color, generally to a golden yellow.” [Jacquard, Toning Cyanotype Prints]
“The toning step requires the presence of tannins, which chemically bond to the reduced iron and change the color of the print.” [Jacquard, Toning Cyanotype Prints]
Tea supplies the tannin. Jacquard says to let the print dry first:
“Allow the print to dry at least 24 hours before toning.” [Jacquard, Toning Cyanotype Prints]
Tea
“Tea toners work well with minimal bleaching, but require long times in the toner—generally 2 or more hours (up to 24).” [Jacquard, Toning Cyanotype Prints]
“Make sure to use teas with tannins in them, like black tea or green tea. White tea, red tea and most herbal teas don’t contain enough tannins to effectively tone a print.” [Jacquard, Toning Cyanotype Prints]
“Every type / brand of tea will produce a different color.” [Jacquard, Toning Cyanotype Prints]
On the two teas Jacquard describes:
“Green tea tends to produce a warm, eggplant black, and it is mild enough that it doesn’t stain the paper base too badly.” [Jacquard, Toning Cyanotype Prints]
“Black tea stains the most, but it produces a unique rich warm black/brown shade.” [Jacquard, Toning Cyanotype Prints]
Expect surprises
“There is no “right” way to tone a print. Have fun with it! Toning is not an exact science, and results can be unpredictable.” [Jacquard, Toning Cyanotype Prints]
For the bleach solution, its strength and its timing, read Jacquard’s sheet itself: we left those out, because the bleach is a chemical with a high pH and we will not turn a quoted range into advice.
The Tea toned look in the app
The Cyanotype app has a look called Tea toned, one of its seven. It gives your photo a tea-toned color, made on the device by the app; it is not a chemical process and does not tell you how to tone a real print. To see a photo in the blue first, the free cyanotype preview runs in your browser.
Back to how to make a cyanotype or troubleshooting.
On your phone: Cyanotype
For iPhone and iPad.
The app shows your photo as a cyanotype print first, in seven looks, with print sizes and matte borders, so you can see the blue before you coat anything. Then it exports the digital negative at full resolution: black and white, inverted and mirrored, and for 4 × 5, 5 × 7 and 8 × 10 paper at the resolution that prints at the paper’s size. It all happens on the device. There is no account, and the app makes no network connections.
How this was checked
Statements about the process, its chemicals, safety and history are quoted word for word from the maker’s instructions (Jacquard), the Getty Museum and the Photographers’ Formulary safety data sheets, and linked where they appear (checked ). Where we could not fetch a source for a fact, we left the fact out, so this section gives no concentrations or amounts of chemicals: use the instructions and safety data sheet that come with what you buy. The digital negative tool is compared by an automated test with the Cyanotype app’s own code. If something here is wrong, tell us at a@noshu.net.