Contemporary Tintypes

"Is anyone out there making contemporary tintypes?"
 
Been there - went to wet plate! Much less frustrating.
 
I worked with Rocklands "tintype" process for over a year before I got
fed up with their developer (more "bad batches" than good ones and
Rockland just doesn't give a sh!#) and went into wet plate collodion.
 
I DO like AgPlus and do quite a few different things with it (in a
negative process, without their crappie reversal developer).
 
I use my colour tempering bath and a small jar to hold the AgPlus at 110
to 115 degrees F while I am working. I also pre-heat the plates to a
similar temperature and then spread the AgPlus with a very soft paint
brush. While the AgPlus is still liquid, I tilt the plate around to even
out the coating and hold the plate until the AgPlus starts to gel.
 
I made myself a plate rack that goes into a lightproof box with a small
fan that circulates outside air and dry the plates 24 hours. There's a
picture of it here:
http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/Tintypes/tintype.html
 
After working with AgPlus for awhile, I made myself a "coating plate"
that is a sheet of galvanized metal with a spiral of copper tube
soldered to the bottom. The copper tube hooks to my darkroom water
supply and I can select HOT (about 140F) while I warm and coat the plate
and then switch to COLD to set the AgPlus. It works like gang busters
but probably isn't worth the effort if you are only doing a few.
 
Dianne
 
Received on Fri Feb 17 07:09:41 2006