|
Pour the Collodion
"The next proceeding is to clean
a plate of glass thoroughly, finishing it with a piece of chamois skin or
silk, and then to cover one side of it with the prepared collodion, which
I do in the following way: -
I fasten a cylindrical piece of
gutta percha to the under side of the glass as a handle; and, holding by
this the plate in my left hand in a level position, I pour on the
collodion from a small phial, in a steady and uninterrupted stream, upon
the near right-hand corner of the plate, at the same time altering
its level so as to cause the collodion to transverse the whole surface,
and then allow the superfluity to run back into the bottle from the
furthest right-hand corner to the plate." |
|
Create an even Coating
"Next, I immediately give the
plate a rotatory motion by means of the gutta percha handle, to render the
coating equal, and, after the expiry of from ten to fifteen seconds,
according to the temperature, I immerse the plate slantingly in a bath of
nitrate of silver, at a strength of 35 grains of the crystallized nitrate
to 1 ounce of pure water."
"I suspend it in this bath for
forty seconds without lifting it, and then raise and re-immerse it three
or four times at short intervals, or until the solution flows freely over
the surface and the solution is free from the streaky and greasy
appearance that it has at first."
"The prepared plate requires now
to be dripped for a short time, and then exposed to the image in the
camera." |
|
Work in a Darkroom
"The window of the room in which
the plate is rendered sensitive by the bath, and in which the
picture is afterwards to be developed, &c., requires to be covered by a
double layer of yellow calico." |
