Dag Questions

I have a couple questions for the Daguerreotypists out there. I really
want to get into making my own Dags, but don't think I'll be able to
attend any workshops on the subject. Fortunately, I am a chemist, so a
lot of the procedures involved are not too foreign to me, hopefully.

First, I was wondering about the thickness of the silver plating on the
copper. I would like to plate the copper myself. I have read somewhere
a figure of 0.35 mil or about 10 micrometers. Any idea if this is
correct, or what range of thicknesses work? Does anyone have a feeling
for how the thickness of the silver layer affects the image?

Second, I was wondering about the development methods. How do mercury
developed images differ from Becquerel developed images? I can obtain
and handle mercury fairly easily, but if there's no real advantage, I
think I would prefer using the Becquerel method.

I hope I'm not inundating you with questions. Any advise offered would
be deeply appreciated!

Thanks for your time and assistance in this.

Cheers,

Brad
Received on 08/09/06-11:29:33 PM Z