We believe that art is where you find it. Meaning if you keep your eyes, and your imagination, open you can find art all around you. Where others see two old TV's we see art, and an adventure! Not everything is 1851 - here is a digital photo of the TV's with some nice fall colors! Back to Our Blog
Watch, clock, smartphone, sundialAll telling us the timeBut all telling us something that doesn't matterSpace and time and place and rhymeAll come together in ways you cannot measure or define.Yes, the sun rises and sets,But really it is the earth that spinsTales and myths and somewhere reality fallsLike a top that whirls and vibrates and eventually loses its momentum.But maybe she knows Something we don't understand,That Sun and SilverSlip through the world, our hands, andTarnish is all that remains. A tintype fantasy featuring Wisconsin artist and creator Kale. We met in Germantown, Wisconsin, on a chilly and windy Spring day.…
Wet plate collodion photography has a unique way of rendering the world. Little silver salts react to light and become microscopic bits of silver; and the bits of silver form an image. There is no grain - the silver bits are too small for a microscope to see. But all those tiny little atoms of precious silver somehow come together in just the right way to capture a moment in time... forever maybe... Our first tintype - washing in a tray after development Illinois creative artist Carolyn, aka Ember, and I created these memories in silver and metal and wood.…
Asylum Point - A tintype photography location. Asylum Point is located on the shores of Lake Winnebago, between Neenah and Oshkosh. The county park gets its name from the former state mental "asylum". Just north of the park is the current Winnebago County Mental Health facility. The highlight of the park is the Asylum Point Lighthouse which sits on a little island. The Lighthouse and island are accessible via a new metal footbridge. We miss the old wood bridge which suffered ice shove damage a few years ago. It has been replace with a nice rusty metal bridge which has…
I see people doing "revel" videos of their art so here is my rendition of a reveal video. All these tintypes were made in September at Pleasant View Studios - during their annual Halloween open access day. You can see more about the studio on their FaceBook Page So here is the video - let us know if you like the format and maybe we'll do this again! Back to our Blog Page We do an occasional fun video of our Victorian Photography - you can see more Videos Here
Just a video showing one of the ways we frame our tintypes. In this case we made a handmade frame out of old pine wood and then use some old scrap metal for the matte and mount. The tintype has magnets added to the back to hold it in place. We love this type of mount as it both shows the entire tintype plate and it also has a wonderful relief with the magnets holding the plate away from the matte. This 6x9 inch tintype was created at the annual Ag Fair in Manitowoc - at Pinecrest Village. It is…
In preparation for the Halloween TFP I offer these tidbits of information. The goal is to help us plan and to ensure we have a great session together! We'll have time to make maybe 3 good images so its we'll chat about what we want to do so we can use our short time together well. You will receive both digital copies of the image and the glass or metal plates we create. The exception would be if we create something that might sell for big bucks then we'll try and sell it and you will get a commission. My…
We had an amazing, although rainy, Saturday at True Love Tat2, Madison Wisconsin. It is always a fun creating tintype portraits, telling stories and making new friends. Here are our wet plate images from the popup. Many thanks to the entire group at True Love for all the help and welcoming us to their shop! You can follow them on Instagram @truelovetat2 or on their website Truelovetat2.com Here are some of our favorite tintypes from our day together! Looking for a tintype portrait or popup? Then fill out my contact form and I will notify you before our next adventure!…
Our recent Pop-up at Madison's True Love Tat2 shop was a wonderful time! We had lots of fun despite the all day rain and dreary skies. What is a "Pop-up" you ask? It is when we pack up our darkroom and equipment and set up to do tintype portraits at some location. Like a pop-up shower the comes and goes. We appear, do our Victorian thing and steel away before the FBI or Men in Black can arrive! Here is a little video showing the developing and varnishing of our group shot tintype. We'll post Pictures of the finished plates…
We spent the day at Pinecrest Historical Village, the Manitowoc County Historical Society Museum. Pinecrest is a huge site with so many historic buildings and is a wet plate collodion delight. The morning was foggy all the way to Manitowoc but the mist burned off as we were setting up our mobile darkroom trailer. We'll post a gallery of the tintypes we've made there in the future. In the mean time, here is a creation video for one of our favorite tintypes made that day! Back to our Blog Do you like our little video? You can see more adventures…
In popular thinking an Alchemist is someone who believes they can turn lead into silver or gold. Yes, there were Alchemists in the olden days who tried to transmute metals. But a more fundamental concept of Alchemy involves the conversion of simple elemental forms in nature to more complex, and more valuable, forms; an Alchemist is one who converts elementals into higher forms. So what does this have to do with the wet plate process? At its most basic wet plate converts random bits of silver into organized, recognizable and beautiful (we hope) images. An Alchemist takes a fleeting moment…
Part of the fun of creating wet plate images is you can play around with just about any size and format you like. This year I have been making a lot of really small tintypes. They run 2-3 inches on a side. The small plates are a real challenge, especially pouring the collodion without drenching your hand! Here is a little video of some of my favorite little tintype memories so far this year, Enjoy! If you enjoyed seeing my tiny tintypes why not have your own made? Contact Me for availability and pricing for a wet plate collodion portrait…
