By coincidence after the story of the church cum camera for gum prints I was
reading an account in bed this morning of George Washington Wilson's
photographic establishment in Aberdeen in 1877. He had an enlarging house for
making enlarged negatives (plates) for big carbon and albumen prints. It had two
rooms with a lens in the outer wall and the plate holder in the wall between the
two rooms. Light was concentrated on the lens from an an angled mirror.
So do not despair if the large film goes off the market, large collodion
inter-negs can still be made. The collodion and sensitisers can be poured onto
the plates with a teapot as was the practice with George Washington Wilson. Or
you could coat the plate with gelatine.
Terry King