My daughter and I have been making dry plate tintypes using the Rockland Colloid process, with very good success. However, the images seem to lack the "punch" of a real wet plate tintype.
We took the plunge last week and ordered a cut-down kit from Bostick Sullivan, as much of the dry plate equipment is usable for wet plate.
I initially goofed up my silver nitrate bath by immersing the collodion-covered plates too soon and using a metal plate instead of glass for the initial solution "charging". The result was an amber-tinged silver nitrate bath with very fine black particles suspended in it. A day of sunning, multiple filterings and adding some additional silver nitrate cleared the solution completely. The solution is back to 1.07 at a ph of 4.
Initially, none of our plates showed an image, even after correcting the collodion setup time. After developing, there was a swirling white pattern along the edges of the plate on every exposure. Sometimes what image was there was completely obscured as the white swirls progressed to the center of the image, always worse around the edges.
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I was using a converted Alkon film holder that I had been using for dry plate. The holder is made of what appears to be pot metal or a zinc alloy. The plate contacts the holder all along the periphery of the plate. The metal of the film holder showed significant corrosion after a few plates. My theory is that the metal is contaminating the wet plate along the edges, with the contamination wicking across the surface of the plate. It was only when we were very fast with shooting and processing the plate that we at least started getting an image in the center.
Can someone with more experience verify that this is edge contamination. Very strange.
I modified an old wooden holder I had and painted the inside with 2-part clear epoxy glue thinned to water-like consistency with alcohol. I am hoping this protects the wood from the silver nitrate, once cured. I've used the same technique to fuel-proof balsa wood on model airplanes.
I also ordered a Graflex film pack adapter the fits the Graflok back of my view camera. Although made of metal, these seem quite easy to modify for wet plate use.
Any comments are gratefully appreciated.
Best,
DonF
We took the plunge last week and ordered a cut-down kit from Bostick Sullivan, as much of the dry plate equipment is usable for wet plate.
I initially goofed up my silver nitrate bath by immersing the collodion-covered plates too soon and using a metal plate instead of glass for the initial solution "charging". The result was an amber-tinged silver nitrate bath with very fine black particles suspended in it. A day of sunning, multiple filterings and adding some additional silver nitrate cleared the solution completely. The solution is back to 1.07 at a ph of 4.
Initially, none of our plates showed an image, even after correcting the collodion setup time. After developing, there was a swirling white pattern along the edges of the plate on every exposure. Sometimes what image was there was completely obscured as the white swirls progressed to the center of the image, always worse around the edges.
I was using a converted Alkon film holder that I had been using for dry plate. The holder is made of what appears to be pot metal or a zinc alloy. The plate contacts the holder all along the periphery of the plate. The metal of the film holder showed significant corrosion after a few plates. My theory is that the metal is contaminating the wet plate along the edges, with the contamination wicking across the surface of the plate. It was only when we were very fast with shooting and processing the plate that we at least started getting an image in the center.
Can someone with more experience verify that this is edge contamination. Very strange.
I modified an old wooden holder I had and painted the inside with 2-part clear epoxy glue thinned to water-like consistency with alcohol. I am hoping this protects the wood from the silver nitrate, once cured. I've used the same technique to fuel-proof balsa wood on model airplanes.
I also ordered a Graflex film pack adapter the fits the Graflok back of my view camera. Although made of metal, these seem quite easy to modify for wet plate use.
Any comments are gratefully appreciated.
Best,
DonF
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