newbie questions first go at wet-plat

[seanE]

Hi guys, Im almost finessed my new larger darkroom, And I want to give the wet-plat process a go, I have everything except the collodion, So question 1, Can I make it, Do any of you know where one would go looking for gun cotton, and the like, ill buy it if i have to, But id like to do the whole process the hard way Question 2, Has any one ever experimented with colloidal silver, Silver plates in salty water and a charge put thru? could it replace silver nitrate?, I don't see why it wouldn't work if it was kept in the dark during the process. Question 3, I have heard of cafanol-C as developer, Vinegar as stop bath, Can you make a fixer? And lastly, Silver nitrate isn't sensitive to red light is it?

 

[removed account4]

you might look at the silver sunbeam
http://albumen.conservation-us.org/library/monographs/sunbeam/
and poke around at these fine websites

http://collodion.org
http://collodion.com

not sure where you live, but the websites
might offer insights on how to obtains the necessary
materials.

home made fixer ... you can stabilize with salt water but it might not do the same magic as hypo / fix
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[ThePhotoChemist]

Hey seanE,

Honestly I would go ahead and buy pre-mixed collodion and pre-mixed ferrous sulfate developer. There are a lot of factors that can mess up the process, so if you're just starting out it will be good to eliminate as many of these as possible. I started with Ol' Workhorse, although there are many other pre mixed formulas that can last much longer.

I've never heard of anyone using caffenol-C with wet plates, but it wouldn't hurt to try out!

Wet plates don't need a stop bath, just use water. Like Jnanian said, sodium thiosulfate ("hypo") works well as a fixer and is fairly cheap.

Silver nitrate is slightly sensitive to bright light, but don't worry about using it in the dark room. It will turn dark if you leave it in the sun for hours and hours. I regularly work with silver nitrate in white light with no problems.

Also if you're on Facebook, the wet plate groups on there are extremely active. Those folks are always willing to help out with various problems you'll run into.

 

[seanE]

thanks, heres the list of what I've ordered, if you could let me know if theres anything i missed, they wont send it for an other 12 or more hours.

pre mixed cadmium free collodion
iron sulphate
silver nitrate
that ''resin'' stuff they use for making the varnish
lavender oil
hypo crystalsgl
acial acetic acid