Thanks Bob and oldrattler. The impressive part of the wet and dry negative glass plate
is the control over the density as established far back in 1850. The tonality is established
by the density of the negative and the usage of gel in the chemistry.
We were doing "spirit photography" a common thing in tintypes and carte-de-visite (CDV)
in the 19th century. This was particularly common during the revival of the spiritual movement
in the US. Their images showed often a seance with spirit(s) and people seating around a
table and sometimes the forest and other unusual settings..
I had just done a wet plate glass that looked a little thin and needed redevelopment in order
to increase density. We decided to do another plate (a 40 sec.s exposure) and I forgot to walk
away from the image at 15 sec.s.
The result however reminds me of another common type of images in the 19th century. Mothers
held babies while at the photography studio while portraits were made. Usually the mother(s) was
covered by cloth, even carpet. A perfect metaphor for motherhood - being there unconditionally and
never recognized.
Btw, the redevelopment of wet and dry glass negative properly done with full control of the process
is known and practiced presently by a very small amount of contemporary photographers.
Heh! I believe I mentioned I used the mother under a blanket method many times making portraits of infants and small children. Very useful to safely maintain a position and reduces the little one's insecurity whilst allowing the tyke to be the exclusive subject of the image.
There is a statue nearby me with a similar covering, that has always "creeped me out" a bit when I've seen it. Now, it might take on a different perspective next time I view it.
Thanks AuntiPode. Glad to see you are getting into alternate processes. The involvement of
photographers around the world is growing (mainly in Western and Eastern Europe). Kind of
a mini explosion; it remains still a small (but highly literate) community at this point in time.
1. Both developer and toner will cool the image color off. I personally prefer it slightly warm.
The golden color is attractive just like molasses. Obviously the long you tone it the color shifts
and acquires different nuances. I like toning it just slightly when it comes to POP (Print Out
Paper like collodio chloride). Other processes such as albumen I like to leave it into gold
chloride for longer.
2. All types of substrata will deteriorate because of pollutants in the air. Not flammable like
nitrocellulose at all and usually I would wax the print (a very precise process not to damage
the print). It is a mix of bees wax and lavender, which leaves a great smell. The build of wax
will beautifully deepen the print tones and also protects the print.
Btw, from a conservation POV there are ways of slowing down the image deterioration. Fixing
it for the right amount of time is crucial. Using acid free paper is also a must. To prevent
moisture museum conservators are using metallic tapes (better than the best preservation
tapes, like P90) to mount the image. It can alternatively be placed into a mylar holder, and a
sort of thin plastic like cloth on the back of the image in framing which absorbs moisture, called "corrosion intercept". Corrosion intercept was initially developed for space ships and used also
to preserve silver based objects, but is also great for non-ferrous objects.
That may be the case, even though I am aware of several great alt_photographers in NZ.
Just today I got a passe partout for a half plate daguerreotype I collected a few months ago
and it was made by a NZ daguerreotypist who's work has cased some of the best collections
in the world, including daguerreotypes made by Daguerre himself at a French museum and the
Southworth and Hawes collection for an exhibit in the US. I buy from him because he is simply
the best there is.
In a day and age like today, distance and geography is seldom an impediment.
