Webster’s Wet Plate

It is a rainy Sunday morning. A perfect time to finish up a few chores such as laundry and general tidying up. I shall also take this opportunity to catch up on my posts.

The weather has turned warm, and I gathered up my gear, loaded the cart , and set out for the day. It had been quite awhile since I had done any wet plate work, and I was looking forward to getting back into it.

I positioned the cart in my usual spot near the bridge. Then began setting up my camera, and the rest of my supplies. A bright sunny day with a little breeze to keep it cool. Perfect conditions.

Plate prepped and poured. Into the silver nitrate bath then into the camera. Shutter cocked, released. A two second exposures.

Into the dark box to pour the developer. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Nothing yet. Had I not exposed long enough? Fifty seconds and still nothing. I developed for another twenty but to no avail.

Plate two, three and four the same though I change exposure times for each one.

I fear that my chemicals are to blame. Back home I checked and filtered the silver bath. It was within tolerance. Mixed a new batch of developer though the last one was not all that old. This left me with the colloidian to deal with.

I checked the label. Was it really almost a year old? Added some acetone as I had read that this my help. It did not.

Looks like it is time to order more supplies and start afresh. It will mean a budget reviewer and fewer meals out for the next two months.

This is good. Hope to be creating some new works by the end of next week. Will keep you all posted.

Now time for some ramen.

The museum that I work for is gearing up for the season, and I have also volunteered on my off days at a small market/ cafe that is just across the street from me. Working at getting the kitchen up and running. I hope to be getting out with the cameras and cart soon though.

I took advantage of yesterday’s beautiful weather, and set out with my cart to do some wet plate work. It felt wonderful to be creating something, and though it had been awhile since I had done any tintypes it did not take long to get back into the swing of it.

The Brooklyn Bridge was still where I had seen it last, and as always proved a very willing subject. I shot two plates, one at four seconds, and the other at two, then decided that three looked to be the best exposure time. I shot half a dozen plates, managed to scratch one as I was pulling it out of the fixer, up till then it looked to be a fine tintype.

On my return home I stopped at the Lightship Ambrose, the conditions were near perfect, and with just enough colloidian left I set up for two more shots.

Today looks to be equally beautiful, and after lunch I will set out again. I have several projects in mind, one being a trip into Chinatown.

Spent the early morning hours stamping more boxes. An enjoyable, and rewarding task. Did some more plate prep too, need to be ready for the next urban exploration.

Also received another shipment of tintype plates from Lund Photographic. 4x5s that will fit my Adlake drop plate camera!

I also finished the leveling table. This will greatly help the whole plate coating process.

One of the many chores that needs be doing for the photographic processes that I use is plate preparation. Not all that difficult. A bit tedious, and I try and stay ahead of it. This morning I set out to cut, sand, and wash twenty five plates, all 4×5 in size.

I have explained the steps before, so I will not bore you with the details. It takes a few hours to do, but with the radio on, and a comfortable work station it was done by lunch.

With the newly cleaned plates Stacked, and drying I began wondering what I would pick as a subject, what method I would us, wet, or dry plate, and what camera. As I was daydreaming, a package arrived. A friend, of a friend had sent me a fantastic vintage camera. She was interested in the wet plate process, and I had taken the time to offer some advice. As a thank you I was given this:

An ADLAKE drop plate box camera. It looks somewhat like the Seneca camera that I have, and at first glance I thought it was just that, but then I realized it was not a camera I was familiar with. The lens, viewfinder,and overall shape of the camera was not all that different, but when I opened it up, I saw something unlike any camera I had come across.

The back folded down to reveal twelve plate holders that were hung on an odd looking notched arm. The papers that came with it offered little, to no instruction, so I poured my self a cup of coffee, and gave it some thought. It took a good twenty minutes, but when I placed one of the plate holders in in a certain way, it all fell into place. A simple, yet clever design.

The twelve plates get Stacked together, and rest upright on on tracks that are on each side of the interior. When the plate is exposed you turn a dial which moves two notched arms on each side. The notches grab the pins on the lower corners of the holders, this pulls the holder down a fraction of an inch where it drops below a tab. Free, it falls forward, and the plate behind it is now ready for exposure.

I look forward to testing out this gift, and I will post results, along with a video of its operation

Here is the promised video.

I toyed with the idea of making my own set of stamps, but when I estimated my time it became clear that finding something already made would be less costly. A quick search gave me an address in the East Village, and it being a nice enough day I decided to walk. This not only gave me a chance to stretch my legs, but also an opportunity to scope out interesting things to photograph in the future.

I have installed a wonderful app on my phone. Urban Archive. It is a vast collection of photographs of NYC, a great resource that I hope to make use of. Would be a nice project to photograph any remaining structures from the collection, or what is standing there now.

I found the stamp shop on 11th st. A small place that had just about every rubber stamp imaginable. Picked out what I needed in just a few seconds, but spent a few minutes just looking around. will certainly be returning.

Three little stamps, much nicer than anything I would have time too make. These, along with two ink pads, black, and brown, made up my purchase. A nice walk home, where I spent the remainder of the day doing some organizing, ordering of supplies, and cleaning more plates.

The gelatin silver plate is nearly identical to the wet plate process with the difference of allowing the plate to dry before exposing. The image above was taken with my 8×10 Kodak view camera with a 5×7 back. I had prepared a few plates a few days before, and when walking back from lunch I saw how perfect the light was, set up my camera, and captured this bow on image of the Wavertree.

About the size of a shoe box, this vintage camera is in beautiful condition for its age. Built around 1910, this camera held 4×5 inch glass or metal plates. It is simple to use, just a larger version of a brownie. I have loaded her up with two, freshly prepared aluminium plates, and will give it a test run soon.

Here are the results. Overcast day. Two second exposure. This was fun

Awake at 0200 this morning. My mind full of plans, and ideas. Made some coffee when I realized I was not getting back to sleep . A day off work anyway, and I can always grab a nap later.

Poured some more gelatin silver plates. Six 5x7s that will be shot in the Kodak view camera, and two 4×5 plates that I will test out in my Seneca Box camera. Whilst rooting around for film holders I came across half a dozen that I had loaded some time ago. Decided it was a good excuse to bundle up and get outside. I decided on taking my trusty Speedgraphic. A camera that I once carried during a winters long hiking expedition in Patagonia.

I need not go far today though. Just on the other side of the pier is LV87, more commonly known as Lightship Ambrose. I truly am surrounded by wonderful subjects. Hat, and jacket on. Camera ,and tripod in hand. Off I went.

My Etsy shop, Websterswetplate, is up and running. Still some tweaking to do, but I have made three sales already. I try and spend a few minutes each morning staying ahead of the game. Trying to establish good habits, unlike the man pictured above.