[Almost] ALL the Chemicals - Laura Brennan

My chemicals have arrived! (Yay!)

In the time that I was patiently waiting for my chemicals to come in, I continued to do more research on the Wet Plate Collodion process in order to have a better understanding of the different techniques that are involved.

Aside from that, I worked on a test strip layering piece. Unfortunately, I don't have as much paper as I thought I did, so I had to use it conservatively.  I tried using older negatives, otherwise I would have had to buy film (and spend more money). The old negatives are not exactly the type of portrait that I would like to use for this either. Ultimately, I've realized that my tintypes are going to consume most of my time (and money) so it looks like the test strip pieces will have to wait for some other time in the future.

I believe I mentioned at the last critique that Mike helped me modify one of my 4x5 film holders in preparation for the plates. Now that I have the plates in my possession, I have come to find that they are slightly larger than the holder and don't easily drop into it. I've managed to modify the holder a little more and figured out a way to get the plate into it. I just need to figure out how to keep the plate from shifting inside of the holder when I'm ready to shoot. I hope this will just take some trial and error with the first few plates that I coat.

Last night I managed to safely mix most of my chemistry (Salted Collodion, Silver Nitrate, and Positive Developer). Unfortunately, the company that I ordered the chemicals from did not have enough silver nitrate (used to sensitize the plates to UV light) and no gum sandarac (component needed in varnishing the plates).  Not being able to mix up the varnish isn't too big of a deal right now because it's the last step.  The silver nitrate, however, might be a small issue, but I will hopefully have enough to sensitize the first few plates before the rest of it comes this week.

My next steps will be setting up my little studio space with strobe lights and taking some digital shots to help figure out which settings I'll need to use in order to have enough light exposing the plates. Then I should be set to start shooting my tintypes!

Also, I now have fireproof cabinet to store everything in so that I don't blow up the photo lab. (Thanks Seth!)