Collodion - Wet Plate Images

[paulbarden]

Do you use a helper tray to get good coverage/flow?

No, I don’t. In fact, I keep a bottle of 500ml of negative developer that I use over and over again, and I pour the whole 500ml in a standard tray. I lift the tray to get the developer down to the far end, lay my glass plate in and quickly lower the tray to immerse it. It much more like developing normal film in a tray than how I develop tintypes.


I filter the developer after every session, of course. After about 6 or 7 sessions, I throw out half of it and make 250ml of fresh developer and add to it to replenish it. You can do this indefinitely.

[koraks]

Hm, there's a thought. I concluded that a larger bath of (fresh) developer would result in low density (particularly when making negatives) because the leftover silver nitrate from the bath would be washed away, but reusing the developer prevents this. I now understand what you mean by "well seasoned developer"! I think I'm going to try this. It sounds like a very good way to get fairly even development across the plate.

[paulbarden]

Hm, there's a thought. I concluded that a larger bath of (fresh) developer would result in low density (particularly when making negatives) because the leftover silver nitrate from the bath would be washed away, but reusing the developer prevents this. I now understand what you mean by "well seasoned developer"! I think I'm going to try this. It sounds like a very good way to get fairly even development across the plate.

Many manuals talk about re-using developer so that it becomes "seasoned" by the accumulation of silver in it, and that's an asset when developing glass negatives. John Coffer talks about it, and the older literature mentions it too. I get the impression it was a common practice. All I know is that I get very nice negatives when I work with seasoned developer.

[Nine7Three]

Wow this is interesting... i normally mix up fresh developer every time I shoot I might have to try mixing 200ml and reusing to see results.

[Nine7Three]

Van Gogh Sunflower 4.30.18

Century Studio No.7
Wollensak Vesta @ f11 1:25 sec exp
5x7 plate

[paulbarden]

Van Gogh Sunflower 4.30.18

Century Studio No.7
Wollensak Vesta @ f11 1:25 sec exp
5x7 plate

I quite like that! Nice two-tone effect.

[Nine7Three]

Latest shot of Death's Head Moth 5.4.18 (real specimen)
Tried to reuse developer it started out ok but when i got to my last plate (6) my highlights were not developing properly. Also had a very odd occurrence when I was varnishing this plate (B&S sandarac varnish) I got some bubbling and tiny ripples/waves in the varnish never had this happen before. I've always has smooth glass finish with it. I'm wondering if it maybe shelf life of this bottle I picked up on eBay. maybe its not fresh? idk but happy i scanned before i varnished and left one plate for Renaissance wax.

[goamules]

Wetplate get together at Marks today. 1850s Lerebours et Secretan lens.

[gene LaFord]

A fine crew!!

[Mark Sampson]

Not quite Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, but close. Good people at that gathering and some very nice tintypes made- including that one. I even made my own first wet-plate image yesterday... a fascinating process. Thanks to Garrett for sharing his experience and to Mr. Sawyer for hosting the party- as well as his patient teaching skills.