Presentation of wet plates

[Allen Friday]

For the Alt. Process exchange, I am making 8x10 wet plate tintypes. I was wondering how others who use this process present their tintypes.

Thanks for your advice,

Allen

 

[Robert Hall]

I have little desk top frame holders and place the plate on it as to display the whole piece as the Object de Art.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

Traditionally tintypes were placed in a paper sleeve with a die-cut hole for the image to show thru. This hole often had a curved top, and sometimes a printed boarder around the opening. The die-cut hole cropped the image just enough to avoid showing the ragged edges that this process often produces. Now days, it seems people want to display the whole image, including the collodion flow and developer defects at the edge. It is just personal taste. Like showing the sprocket holes on 35mm.

 

[singram]

I had three of my half plate tins mounted and framed in such a way that they float in the frame. The framer used acid free silicone adhesive and pressed the plate into a mat board and let it set. The bead of the silicone lets the image float above the back mat. The top mat is cut about 1/2 inch wider than the cut tintype, and the whole thing is placed in a shallow shadow box style frame and is behind glass. The images look really nice displayed this way.

steve

 

[PHOTOTONE]

I think the OP wants advice on how to present the tintypes to the receiver, as in how to safely package them attractively so that the receiving party will get a good first impression. I am not sure if matting and framing is feasable in a group image exchange.

 

[Allen Friday]

OP here,

I am sorry I was unclear in my first post.

The first week of March I will be sending tintypes to three other participants in the Alt. Print Exchange. Eventually, I imagine I will start selling tintypes, which will also be mailed to purchasers.

I prefer not to mail just the tintype and leave the mounting, matting etc. up to the recipient (unless others think this is the best method of shipping). At the same time, I don't see myself framing the tintype. I guess I am looking for something in between, similar to mounting and matting a regular print, which the buyer can then frame as they like. If that's not feasible, I can do something else. But, any ideas are welcome.

Thanks for the replies,

Allen

 

[kevin klein]

If you are going to sell them to serious collectors they usualy want just the plate so they can mout it the way they want,and most of the time they prefer to show the entire plate complete with edge defects.

But if you are doing a cutesy souvinier sort of thing like the Gambler and Saloon girl....(pardon me wile I go puke).....then the mat or frame will be ok.

Any body got a backless frock coat? Just kidding.

 

[Allen Friday]

Darn it, Kevin,

Now I'll have to print a different image.

 

[singram]

Allen,
There are a couple of companies I can think of; one is Michel Company out of Waukegan, IL (www.michelcompany.com) and they sell mattes, mounts, albums etc. for portraits and album presentation. Another company I know of is Western Photo Mount out of Portland, Or. (www.westernphotomount.com) and if you ignore the aformentioned gambler and saloon girl photographs, some of their mattes are actually quite complimentary in color and style for the tones of a tintype especially if you use KCN for fixer.

I do reenacting during the summer, so I present my images in a period-correct fold flap paper matte for my 1/6 plate, and a folder style matte for my 1/4 and 1/2 plates. I use hypo so my images tend to be on the cool side. They look good in a cream colored paper stock. Sorry for the confusion, I hope this helps.

steve

 

[colrehogan]

Allen, you might email or PM Kerik. He has tintypes/ambrotypes displayed in his home. He may also have experience in shipping them.

 

[Christopher D. Keth]

If these are really on a iron or steel base, you could fashion frames with a backer board that holds the tintype by way of rare earth magnets (VERY strong, small magnets). This would be a gentle way to display the whole thing to the edges without piercing, gluing, or taping it.