From: Christopher Lovenguth (zantzant@hotmail.com)
Date: 10/08/02-10:11:27 AM Z
I've been trying to think of a way to seal a daguerreotype plate with some
sort of substance so that I don't have to have it under glass. Can anyone
think of a way to do this? I don't want it to alter the finish so it would
have to be some sort of material/chemical that can be applied without
severely affecting the finish. It will have to be neutral as well in order
not to tarnish the silver. Third it would have to be able to be applied
carefully because the slightest touch destroys the image. So I'm thinking a
sort of liquid that I can either dip the plate in or spray the plate with.
I couldn't come up with any ideas that I'm just willing to try. It's not
that I want to be able to put my paws all over the image and then be able to
use window cleaner to wipe them off. But I like the quality of just the
plate without glass. The problem is showing it to someone who might not
understand that just the slightest touch will ruin it. Plus transportation,
my own viewing (I'm very clumsy) dust, etc. Right now I have been using
neutral plastic film holders sheets. But even with those if you take the
plate out of them a couple of times start to scratch the image because of
dust particles. Just keeping the plate in the sleeve and looking through it
you lose subtle qualities.
This is not as much of an issue with some of my gilded plates. For some
reason some of them have become almost touchable. The thing is I'm sort of
select gilding my plates now since a long time in the gold tends to darken
my plates too much. I'm now taking my plates out a bit faster then I used to
because I like the quality and effect, but these images are more fragile and
can be wiped off with the slightest touch just like the plates that haven't
been gilded.
I'm willing to experiment with a bad plate so suggestions are appreciated.
-Chris
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