Where's C.J. and her tintype posts?

[Bill_1856]

Long time, no hear.

[Calamity Jane]

I'm right here Bill!

The photography business was a real bust in the first year but provided a nice chunk of income (tax refund)!

I completely gave up on Rocklands "tintype" process 'cause it don't work 90% of the time but I worked up a "fake tintype" using their Ag Plus that looks REALLY nice and is 100% reliable. I have also got into wet plate collodion and have been doing Ambrotypes that look really nice and are 100% authentic to the time period I work with. I just need to get a darkbox built so I can take the Ambrotypes on the road.

Photography has kind of taken a backseat this winter though. In a moment of insanity I decided in Januray to return to competitive figure skating at the ripe old age of 56 after 36 years away and have since become a "grey rink rat" skating 3 days a week. With spring on our doorstep and the "Cowboy Action Shooting" starting up again the historic photography is starting to pick up again. Had my first client of the year on Sunday and need to get my a@@ in the darkroom and do his tintypes - oughtta be a nice one - three generations of the family all in 1880's garb - should be good for 3 or 4 plate sales.

Nice to know I still got "a reputation" here - LOL!!!

[Tom N]

Calamity Jane, could you shed some light on your 'fake tintype' process using AG Plus for me? I ordered their tintype kit before Christmas and I had real trouble spreading the emulsion evenly on the plates. It was so bad that I wasted all of the emulsion they sent me without coating even one plate properly. Needless to say I didn't even have a single plate that I could use. So if you have a better way I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks,
Tom

[chris jordan]

Calam! Great to hear from you. Happy summer.

~cj

[GPS]

What's your next project? I lost the web site address - what a reading!

[Calamity Jane]

My website: http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/

Ok, here's my trade secrets for Ag Plus and "fake tintypes" - don't you dare tell anybody ;-)

I make my plates from steel "shim stock", cleaned, primed, and painted black. When the black is dry, I hand-paint an oval area with white paint. Don't do too good a job - you want it to look "original".

I use the tempering bath to keep a little dish of Ag Plus and the large bottle at 115 degrees and I apply Ag Plus with a soft paintbrush.

I made a galvanized plate just a little bigger than the tintype plates and I clip the tintype to this plate. Soldered on the back of the galvanized plate is a coil of copper tube connected to my hot and cold water lines.

When I am ready to coat a plate, I turn on the hot water and wait until the plate is uncomfortably hot to the touch. I then spead the Ag Plus over the white area and shake the plate gently to even out the coating, tilting if necessary to run it to any low spot. When the coating is as uniform as possible, I switch the hot water off and the cold water on and keep the plate level as it cools.

The tintype then gets moved to a wooden "drying rack" where it is held horizontal in a light-tight cabinet with forced air circulation and allowed to dry thoroughly.

Meanwhile, go out and shoot your subject on B&W film, process the film normally, and dry.

I expose the fake tintype in my Dichro 45 and wide-open f stop - time will vary depending on how much UV your enlarger throws - and develop in dilute Dektol.

The end result looks for all the world like a real tintype but the image is bright and sharp like it was printed on paper. "An expert" will quickly pick up that it is fake but not your average Joe.

Oh my gawd, what have I done!!?? I have just given away all my secrets!

[Brian Ellis]

"An expert" will quickly pick up that it is fake . . . ""

Both of them?

[Tom N]

Thanks Jane! Don't worry I won't reveal you secret to anyone :)

[Calamity Jane]

Ain't nuthin fake about THEM Brian!

[Darin Cozine]

Calamity,
I am sure you will continue to be active, but on behalf of all of us:
Thank you for your contributions to the photographic community.

[Juergen Sattler]

JC you are just amazing - and I don't just mean the photography stuff, but you picked up competitive skating again! Congratulations and my hat off to you:-)

[Juergen Sattler]

Sorry, that was meant to be CJ, NOT JC. My brain is fried from the 100 degrees we have here in Phoenix today:-)

[Dianne]

Just so you know, I changed to my street name on the new forum. I'm still C.J. to ;)

[Dianne]

Thought ya'll might be interested in seeing one of my "genuine, honest-ta-gawd, real (fake) Tintypes"

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c64/northernjane1974/WelzClan.jpg

[Ralph Barker]

Cool. Plus, ya gotta love folks who are always prepared to shoot somehing. ;)

[Ty G]

I've read a lot of posts on this site about tintypes, pseudo-tintypes, etc. Rockland emulsion, using Dektol to develop tintype, and all kinds of guesses on the process. Rockland is in no shape or form even close to tintypes. Dektol use would kinda blow the heck out of doing period photography, and probably would not be archivally safe on a tintype. Tintypes are wet-collodion process; collodion is poured, plate is dipped in silver nitrate, developed in iron sulfate, fixed in cyanide, hypo, or thiocyanate; finally varnished with lavender varnish (I don't think Rockland says anything about varnish). I think more trouble is being put into making a fake "tins" than doing it period correct. There are many wet platers around doing it. http://tystintypes.com/photos/cowboys/cowpic01.htm I would post a tintype, but I cannot figure out how.
www.tystintypes.com

[Ralph Barker]

Ty - if you use the "Post Reply" button (not the "Quick Reply" window, scroll down a ways from the message window. You'll see a "Manage Attachments" button, one of the options for which is to upload an image - either from an already online source or from your PC.

[Jim Rice]

I am convinced that there is nothing that CJ can't accomplish. Got any interest in world peace?

[RobertB]

Bringing this thread up to date:

Has ANYONE been successful using the Rockaloid emulsion IN A CAMERA to make tintypes/ambrotypes?

[Tracy Storer]

Robert, the concensus is that Rockland changed something along the way. I got good results way back in '94, but an attempt 2-3 years ago was a total waste of time. They used to supply a bag of unidentified powder for users to add to Dektol to make the "tintype developer", I think they supply a liquid dev now that probably has shelf-life issues?

[Andrew O'Neill]

Never mind where are her tintype posts... Where is Calamity Jane?? I don't see her name in the members list.

[DELTAFOUR1212]

Love to see your fake Tintypes. Do you have a website? The link you gave doesnt work anymore

Carl



[QUOTE=Calamity Jane;155800]My website: http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/

Ok, here's my trade secrets for Ag Plus and "fake tintypes" - don't you dare tell anybody ;-)

[photobymike]

i am interested but no website

[Andrew O'Neill]

Love to see your fake Tintypes. Do you have a website? The link you gave doesnt work anymore

Carl



[QUOTE=Calamity Jane;155800]My website: http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/

Ok, here's my trade secrets for Ag Plus and "fake tintypes" - don't you dare tell anybody ;-)

That site doesn't exist anymore. Anyone out there know what happened to her? I think her name was Dianne Best.

[jnantz]

[QUOTE=DELTAFOUR1212;968063]Love to see your fake Tintypes. Do you have a website? The link you gave doesnt work anymore

Carl





That site doesn't exist anymore. Anyone out there know what happened to her? I think her name was Dianne Best.

well, the way back machine has something ( the only website of hers I remember no photo stuff just this stuff )
https://web.archive.org/web/20040830212030/http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/

[Tin Can]

Bad link deleted

[Roger Thoms]

http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/Jane/CalamityJane1.htm

This takes me Yahoo, didn’t see anything about Calamity Jane, just a bunch of Yahoo junk.

Roger

[Tin Can]

My mistake

I was sure I was posting Way Back pages

Tricked again, I will delete the link

I did SEE what I wanted


This takes me Yahoo, didn’t see anything about Calamity Jane, just a bunch of Yahoo junk.

Roger

[revdoc]

https://www.soberingfuneralchapel.com/dianne-best/

[Andrew O'Neill]

Oh no... RIP Calamity Jane.

[Sal Santamaura]

This thread's OP, Bill Mitchell, hasn't been active here since March of 2019. I recently sent him a "welfare check" PM, but received no reply. Does anyone know where/how he is? Bill was a retired GP doctor from Florida.