Ambrotype is one of the first commercially viable photography methods. Ambrotype is one flavor of wet plate collodion and is a wet plate photograph on glass. The name has a bit of mystery. Some believe it is based on the Greek term for “immortal impression”. Others attribute it to to James Ambrose Cutting who named it after himself in a series of patents in 1854.
Whatever the origin, Ambrotypes are photographs on glass and can take two forms – a positive image and a negative image. The positive Ambrotype is an underexposed image that is viewed directly when the glass is backed with something dark. This can be black glass or a black coating or even the glass itself is colored. A negative Ambrotype is fully exposed and developed to be used in a POP printing process to produce positive images. This is very similar to modern film where a negative is used to print a positive image.
We love Ambrotypes because of their unique beauty and depth. We cut, polish and clean all of our glass for Ambrotypes and often recycle old glass. The process for making an Ambrotype positive is:
- The glass plate is treated with albumin to help the collodion stick
- Collodion solution is poured on the glass plate and allowed to set up for 10 to 20 seconds
- In the darkroom the plate is submerged into a solution of silver nitrate for 3 to 4 minute.
- The silver deposits on the plate and makes it light sensitive
- The plate is removed from the silver, drained to remove excess silver solution and place in a plate holder
- The holder is placed in a large format camera and the exposure done
- Back in the darkroom the plate is developed with an iron solution and “fixed” to make the image permanent
- The finished plate is washed, dried and coated with varnish
- The plate is backed with something dark to reveal the positive image
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