From: MICHAEL STEINLE (mikad@worldnet.att.net)
Date: 09/18/02-06:02:17 PM Z
----- Original Message -----
From: PhotonTom@aol.com
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 11:34 PM
Subject: Re: SAFER: MODERN AMBROTYPES & THE WEB (Gasssssssp!)
In a message dated 9/17/2002 8:22:05 PM Pacific Daylight Time, watsok@frii.com writes:
Nitric acid in the developer is crazy.... I need to try this sometime;<) I
would agree about dangerous chemistry if this was required. Most wet heads
use acetic acid, about 14 ml to 500 ml of water. This is about the same
strength as household vinegar.
I know some literature calls for Potassium Cyanide as a fixer. This is an
option as Hypo works well.
For God's sake (as well as your own!!) Don't use KCN as a fixer if you have acid around, unless you want to play "gas chamber" and off yourself. (I suspect it may be difficult to purchase the cyanide in most forms in any case.)
Cheers,
Tom Crowe
Thomas Crowe Studios-Photographic Arts
"Lost in East Tennessee" (Yearning to return to Southern California again)
I have to laugh to myself when I read posts like this one, where an "expert" is giving advise to experienced practitioners of a particular process. Yes the combination of acid and cyanide will result in a deadly gas, but any practitioner of wet collodion photography already knows this. Sort of like telling someone that is used to handling firearms not to look into the muzzle of a gun and pull the trigger to see if it's loaded. I would think that someone contemplating the wet-plate process would be doing some basic research as to the potential hazards of the chemicals involved and then would, at that point, become aware of what they're dealing with. There's no need to sensationalize the facts with phases such as, "For God's sake (as well as your own!!)" Sounds like good theater, not good sense.
Mike Steinle
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