Re: Hazards of wet plate collodion ?

Loris,

First, let me clarify one point. When I use cyanide, I use it outside.
It's not necessary to do the fixing step under safelight conditions.

I don't make collodion from scratch (very few people do this). I buy the
plain collodion USP, then add the ether, grain alcohol and
iodides/bromides to make the salted collodion solution that is poured on
the plate.

I recommend you get Mark Osertman's book The Wet-Plate Process; A Working
Guide. Go to www.collodion.org for info.

Joe Smigiel recently posted some good sources for information:

"About a week ago I posted a link on both collodion forums regarding
obtaining reprints of Towler's "A Silver Sunbeam" and Ellis' "Ambrotype
and Photographic Instructor". The former book is the bible of wetplate
and several contemporary formulaes are derived from Ellis' manual.
Towler's reprint is about $34 USD IIRC, a wise investment.

I have both Coffer's "A Doer's Guide" and the Osterman's handbook. Both
are good but I also might suggest the Osterman's chapter in Barnier's
"Coming Into Focus" text as you would also get a lot more info regarding
other processes (carbon, gum, cyanotype, kallitype, using step wedges
and digital negatives, etc.) with Barnier's compilation.

By far the Towler book is meatier and I would recommend that text over
all the others. Coffer's would be my second choice since it is an
easier read and a very nuts-and-bolts practical guide that will get you
doing wetplate quickly.

You can also find some good information online at the two collodion
forums and in these online versions of classic collodion texts:

John Towler's 1864 "A Silver Sunbeam":
http://albumen.stanford.edu/library/monographs/sunbeam/index.html

Desire van Monckhoven's 1863 "A Popular Treatise on Photography":
http://albumen.stanford.edu/library/monographs/monckh/index.html

Matthew Carey Lea's 1868 manual:
http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AEL5141.0001.001"

Good luck! Collodion is lots of fun and not as hard as it may seem at
first.

Kerik
www.kerik.com

> Thanks for the clarification. Well, I guess I will start with hypo
> fixing if
> I manage to make ambrotypes. Cyanide intimidates me too... First of all I
> have to locate a source for collodion in my area (which is not likely, I
> will try it anyway...) Do you prepare your own collodion or do you get it
> ready? If you prepare it yourself can you describe the process (if it's
> not
> overly complicated) or point a source of information (website or book)?
>
> Thanks again,
> Loris.
Received on Mon Aug 8 11:40:37 2005