Ambrotype Archives

Behind The Scenes of Wet Plate Collodion Photography

Ambrotype / Blog / Tintype / Wet Plate Collodion

Wet Plate collodion images being prepared for shipment

Why does a wet plate cost so much? A question I sometimes get, although not too often. Part of the cost is the part my clients see – the actual image capture. But the session is actually the smallest part of making historic tintypes and Ambrotypes. So let’s go behind the scenes of wet plate collodion photography and see some of the work that goes into making your historic image.

Chemical Preparation

The foundation of the process is chemistry. Before anything else happens there are a bunch of chemicals that have to be purchased and mixed. Collodion has to be mixed with alcohol and ether and bromides to make the plate coating. Silver nitrate has to be mixed into a 7-8% solution for the silver bath. Silver nitrate is dangerous for your skin and eyes so a lot of protection has to be worn when handling silver baths. Developer has to be mixed along with the fixing solutions. I also mix up my own Sandarac varnish.

Aluminum and Glass Plates

I use mostly recycled & antique glass for my Ambrotypes. I have to search out old windows and other sources of glass. I then remove the glass, clean it and cut to size. The edges of the cut glass are sanded to remove sharp edges. Then the glass is cleaned again and coated with albumin (to help the collodion stick).

The generic name “tintype” comes from the past when actual tin sheets were used for plates. Now I actually use trophy grande anodized aluminum plates. The plated can come cut to the various sizes or I buy large sheets and cut them to size myself.

Plate Rinsing and Drying

After fixing the plate I need to do five steps of washing. The plates are washed with tap water four times followed by a final distilled water rinse. This step removes any trace of residual chemical that could cause problems 100 years in the future. The plates are then left to air dry on racks for at least 24 hours.

Varnishing & Coating

The final step in plate preservation is varnishing. I use the traditional Sandarac varnish which is a blend of frankincense and lavender oil. The plate is warmed up over an alcohol flames, varnish poured on the surface and drained. The plate is then reheated over the flame carefully (because the varnish is flammable) to set. The plate is then racked to air cure for at least 24 hours.

The varnishing step is really fun because of the wonderful smell of lavender oil with the spiciness of frankincense!

If your plate is an Ambrotype on clear glass I can also blacken the image to render it a positive. I love to use a sheet of black, or other color velvet. I might also coat the image with traditional asphaltum.

Mounting and Framing

Finally, I get the plate ready for delivery to you my client. Each plate is signed and a Certificate of Authenticity is also signed. I make my own sleeves to hold your plate. I can also frame the plate or add a chain mount or a magnetic mount if you like. Often I also package your plate for shipment and run to the UPS store or the USPS facility.

Now that you have seen behind the scenes of wet plate collodion photography you will never ask “why does a plate cost so much”?

I almost forgot, after all that work, I also have to clean up and resupply my mobile darkroom!

You know, maybe I should raise my prices!!!

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Do You Believe?

Ambrotype / Blog

Believe
To think that something is true, correct or real

Do you believe? Or maybe a better question is what do you believe? Whether you believe me or not I think everyone has a belief system. Your belief system is a set of things you assume to be true. Proof or evidence is not really at issue here because none of us are completely rational. We all like to think we are rational (I do!) but it is extremely difficult to really be dispassionate and totally objective.

The problem is we filter what we see and experience through our minds and come to conclusions. The filters are extremely powerful and mostly hidden. For example, every one of us has a blind spot in the center of our vision. But we don’t see the black spot because our brains fill in the blank space with a kind of content aware algorithm. Here is a simple experiment you can do to “see” your blind spot.

We also filter what we see by focusing our attention. Here is a short video that dramatically shows just how blind we can be.

So what does this have to do with the Ambrotype at the top of this post? Simple! If you believe in Santa then does he exist? Or does a lack of belief shatter our childhood memories? You can choose what to believe so do you choose to believe in a world of happiness and loving gift givers? Or do you want to believe that that world is only a childish fantasy? I choose to believe that there is love in this world; despite the pain and suffering a better world awaits us!

“Believe” is a 5x7in Ambrotype (wet plate photo on glass). He had a unfortunate accident and crashed on the floor. I was going to throw him away but thought maybe I can put the pieces back together. So I laid out the pieces and then used an adhesive vinyl sheet to hold them together. A couple coats of shellac varnish were added and then framing. Varnishing was a mess because shellac ran out of the cracks on onto my hands. But maybe restoring belief is messy no matter what you do!

“Believe” is hanging on my wall right now and I really like the image. But if you love him I do have him for sale on My Etsy Store

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Random Wet Plates

Ambrotype / Blog / Tintype

Before January is over I need to catch up on random wet plates from 2023. I left my full time job last April to focus on alternative photography full time. Within a few weeks I started to wonder how I ever had 40+ hours a week to work a full time job. The days go by and the weeks go by and soon the year is gone and another year has started.

So here is a collection of random wet plates I did during 2023. Somehow I never got around to posting them in my blog even though I did a digital photo and added them to my blog photo collection. The 6x6in tintype above is of a metal art owl. My wife sometimes like to weld up creations from random old junk. This owl guards my Summer office!

Here is another metal art creation (not one of my wife’s). A classic 5 pointed star which is on the wall of my Summer office.

It is hard to believe I did my first wet plate in the Fall of 2022. After a few months of practice I shut down for the Wisconsin Winter and started back up in April 2023. So in terms of actual capture time I have been making wet plates – Tintypes and Ambrotypes – for less than a year. Of course I have an advantage over other photographers in that I am a trained Chemist. There is a lot of applied chemistry in tintypes and Ambrotypes – from mixing various potions to making adjustments. So being a degreed chemist helped a lot!

Here is tintype of more metal art – in this case a butterfly sculpture. This sculpture spins away in our back year all year and is very beautiful (if you like rusty butterflies).

I occasionally find antique tintypes. Here is a tiny 2x3in tintype from the 1800’s Three dapper men pose in their Sunday best suits. At least I think they were Sunday best but just guessing as I know absolutely nothing about them or the tintype.

Next is a Ambrotype – wet plate on glass. This image is from the fountain in Riverside Park, Neenah. This is a 6x6in plate made on black stained glass. Most of my Ambrotypes are made in recovered antique glass. I find old windows and salvage the glass. It is a lot of extra work but I like the use of old glass to make 19th century era photos. I do sometimes buy new stained glass because it is hard to find old stained glass. I added a lead came border and copper hangers to finish off the image.

This is a burl on my 100+ year old box elder tree. Certainly a random wet plate! Not an exciting photo as I was doing a set of tintypes to experiment with development settings. But I still kind of like it. The tree is unfornatuely getting near the end of its life. We have already lost some of the big branches and it is only a matter of time before it lets go.

This is a BTS (Behind The Scenes) tintype of the lighthouse at Asylum Point. Wet plates need to a good wash after development and fixing. This removes any residual chemicals which might cause the plate to stain or darken with age. I usually do 5 washes with tap water followed by a final wash with distilled water (to remove any hardness from the tap water). It is a lot of work but worth the effort if I want to have my tintypes last forever!

The last two random wet plates are portraits. The first is a 6x6in tintype of one of my friends at Riverside park. The last is an Ambrotype self portrait. This is on 5x7in glass. I always wanted to be a cowboy…

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Ambrotype Portrait on Glass

Ambrotype / Blog

Ambrotypes are one of my favorite wet plate collodion techniques. There is nothing more stunning than an Ambrotype portrait on glass. Images on glass have a three dimensional quality that is unique. It is also hard to capture in an image on the web.

Here is a wet plate on blue stained glass. I framed it with Came to protect the glass and to provide a means to hang the image.

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