Dryplate Tintype Developer

kevin klein · Mar 20, 2006

Hollo everyone, I'm new here and see alot of interesting things. I do wetplate work but ocasionaly dabble in the dryplate. I was wondering if anyone knows a formula for dryplate tintype Developer that is out there. I know I can buy some from Rockland but I like the do it your self way.
Thank you.

Kevin

htmlguru4242 · Mar 21, 2006

You mean like an old Iron Sulphate or Pyro developer?

The good 'ol Silver Sunbeam (http://albumen.stanford.edu/library/monographs/sunbeam/chap16.html) gives some formulas from the era. Never used them, but they worked for the people "back in the day"

What do you use for shooting dryplates? Do you make your plates or buy them from somewhere?

kevin klein · Mar 21, 2006

Dry tintype developer

The dryplate tins I have used in the past are the ROCKLAND products. Oyhrewise I use collodion for tins. But what Im looking for is a formula used for developing the dry gelatin tins like that of Rockland. They have an MSDS display on thier site for their products and it does show the composition of the tintype developer. It is basicaly dectol with Ammonium Thiocyonate.
I tried to make my own but it had a tendancy to turn black in short order and the results were not that good, maybe the emulsion or something was bad.
Other dryplate techniques I used with great success are the dry collodion plates for negatives wich are slower than wetplate but still give good negatives.

AsaWhite · Jun 17, 2012

Today I mixed a stock solution (for 1 litre) made of this. 145g Dektol powder, 50g Sodium Sulfate anhydrous, and 30g Ammonium Thiocyanate. Mixed as a working solution 1:1 may be a bit strong for some. Although it produced an OK image, it was really fast acting. Tomorrow I'll try 1 part stock to 2 parts water,

kevin klein · Jun 21, 2012

I would like to see your results. I have been fooling around with this off and on for the past 5 or six years, and have not gotten anything as good as the old Rockland stuff, wich these days does not seem to be as good as it used to be.

musila · Jun 22, 2012

I made a homemade developer for developing liquid light tins, kind of following Rockland's developer. I mixed 2 fl oz. stock dektol, with 1 tsp of 10% potassium bromide and 40mls of bad fix. The fix was Sprint's ammonium thiosulphate's fix, expired due to silver saturation, and probably diluted 1 to 9. I took it from the university darkroom. Instead of putting the plate in a tray of developers, I would pour it over the plate, which helped avoid frilling. I'd use a tray to catch the developer that fell off, and pour it over again, developing until the white gel cleared to black.

I'd recommend only using this in a well ventilated area because it does release an intense gas, I used it immediately after mixing and 24 hours after mixing, both worked, and both emitted the gas.

AsaWhite · Jun 25, 2012

I tried the mix with spent fixer and was disappointed with the nasty gas. The reason I am using the sodium sulfate anhydrous is that I saw it on the MSDS for the bulk developer at one time in the past listed as powder #2, . Soon I'll be posting more photos in the gallery (processed with my above developer mix). So far I have been subbing my plates with polyurethane varnish and have had not too much problem with emulsion lifting (If the emulsion is thoroughly dried).Weather permitting, I'll be able to take a few shots this week. By the way, I am not trying to use this as a monobath developer. I develop until I can see some of the image start to clear, then I go to Kodak Fix until cleared.

AsaWhite · Jul 10, 2012

Way too much Sodium Sulfate in the brew- not sure if it helps out the Dektol w/ Ammonium Thiocyanate- Think I'll drop it altogether and try again. Seems to produce too much fog- even in areas totally unexposed.

musila · Jul 10, 2012

I tried replacing the ammonium fix with hypo, I did the math to equal the thiosulfates out (granted the hypo wasn't exhausted) but the fix wasn't fast enough to stop the Dektol in time, so I got a negative image on the plate. Thou, the thin areas where toned a varying green to orange color. I think I'm going to an iron sulphate developer next, because I never cared for the green-yellow hue I got with the Dektol/ammonium developer.

Oh, and a correction to my previous post, I used 4oz stock dektol, not 2oz.

Mark Osterman · Jul 24, 2012

Tintype Emulsion

I know this thread is about developers for dry plate tintypes, but if you are currently using ready made gelatin emulsion, you can save mountains of money by making you own gelatin based silver bromide emulsion I describe in Christopher James' Book on Alternative Photographic Processes. We will also be teaching a workshop in gelatin emulsion making in 2013. Check out the George Eastman House workshop page from time to time to see new listings.

http://www.eastmanhouse.org/events/eventSeries.php?title=photo-workshops

dwross · Jul 25, 2012

That's excellent news, Mark. I've had my fingers crossed for your funding! I'll be teaching a series of silver gelatin workshops next year in Oregon. There are a whole lot of miles between the Coasts. Having options on both ends hopefully will make it easier for people to dip their toes into the fun. We also need at least one option in the center of the country and of course, outside the US. You get over to England to teach collodion. Is there any chance that you can also teach AgGel there? Again, fingers crossed.

********************************

Hi All,

As most of you probably know, Christopher James' book is an excellent survey of just about every alternative process you can think of. Necessarily, it is limited by its bound-pages format. Electronic publishing isn't as limited. Mark's excellent recipe is also posted here (with added info.) http://thelightfarm.com/Map/DryPlate/Osterman/DryPlatePart4.htm

If you go with the James book, make sure you get the 2nd edition. Marks piece in the first edition is limited to just a few pages about using commercial "liquid emulsions" to make tintypes. The second edition is greatly expanded to include Gelatin Dry Plate Emulsion.

p.s. It's absolute truth about the savings of DIY. A basic silver gelatin recipe is almost free (and in many cases, far superior quality.)

AsaWhite · Jul 28, 2012

Cassell's cyclopaedia of photography, Volume 1

Just wondering if anyone has tried this developer mix found on page 240 of Cassell's cyclopaedia of photography, Volume 1

Jill Enfield · Jun 28, 2015

dry plate tintype developers

I know this thread has been going on for awhile, but I published a great recipe in my book "Jill Enfield's Guide to Photographic Alternative Processes". On page 199, I have a recipe from Steve Anchell's The Darkroom Cookbook as well as a recipe of mine to make 1 gallon: 145g Dektol; 3qts warm distilled water (about 110F); and 298g sodium sulfate, anhydrous. Easy to mix - easy to use!

AigBlender · Jun 10, 2018

AsaWhite said:
Today I mixed a stock solution (for 1 litre) made of this. 145g Dektol powder, 50g Sodium Sulfate anhydrous, and 30g Ammonium Thiocyanate. Mixed as a working solution 1:1 may be a bit strong for some. Although it produced an OK image, it was really fast acting. Tomorrow I'll try 1 part stock to 2 parts water,

This is a formula of a Rockland developer ? I haven't prepared one gallon with the Dektol, part 2 and 3, but one liter. Now I made another preparation of one liter but the result are different. Probably I can't use the Dektol (also if is in powder) that remain (is bad) ? My silver emulsion is expired some years ago, but I use it. For the moment I haven't again obtain a 4x5" complete, after developer and fixer a part of the image pell off the plate. Where is/are my mistakes ?

removed account4 · Jun 10, 2018

i forgot all about this thread !
thanks aigblender for finding it

DonF has hacked what he believes
to be the Rockland Formula
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/rockland-colloid-should-i-bother.112558/page-4
he posts results from his developer in the thread as well...
he also has specific instructions on cleaning the plates. if your emulsion still peels off
when you use his methodology ( pretty much what i suggested you do a little bit ago in your thread )
you might sub your plates with food grade or photography grade gelatin. ive used old emulsion ( 15-20 years old )
from a bottle where the gelatin has stopped binding, so i had to presoak paper even, in gelatin to get the emulsion to
stick. maybe that is your problem, the gelatin is broken down ...

i've had mixed results with caffenol with ansco130 or dektol in it, with spent fixer.. and sodium sulfate
i get mixed results .. but the mid tones are nice ..

Dryplate Tintype Developer

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