Seeing Ian's excellent set of images reminded me of my efforts over some time to produce a toned cyanotype that appealed to me. What I wanted was to change the tone of the Prussian Blue but not stain the paper and so retain the crisp appearance of a good plain cyanotype. I never really succeeded.
Bleaching, however carefully, at any stage of the toning always seemed to degrade the eventual image. It is certainly recommended by a number of authorities on the subject but I never found it useful.
Black tea and coffee of various sorts tended to stain the paper too heavily for my liking.
Green tea (Morrisons own brand) produced a half decent effect with a blue/black tone and minimal staining of the paper while an infusion of camellia (
Camellia japonica) shoots could sometimes produce even better results but was rather variable. This is not really surprising as the tea pant (
Camellia sinensis) belongs to the same family but you need plenty of young shoots from the plant and Mrs W was less than impressed by my explanation that our camellia plant would benefit from extensive pruning.
I did produce a few prints that I quite liked but none that were exactly what I wanted. Tannins of some sort seem to be the only way to tone cyanotypes unless anyone has a suggestion.
Yes, Terry, I saw that ITV ident with what looked like a cyanotype.
Happy toning, Paul