Making Silver Plates for Daguerreotypy:
There a couple of ways to go about covering the copper plate with silver. The first way is to send the polished and preped copper plates to a plater. There are several good ones in the United States. Search the FAQ database for those. The second way, the way that keeps you independent is cladding or electroplating the copper plates. I've chosed electroplating.
I haven't found a lot of good information on this topic online. You can search the FAQ database for specifics, but the general idea is that you use an anode (pure silver plate) and cathode (copper plate) in a solution of silver and cyanide. An electrical current is sent through the plates and the silver is transferred and "plated" onto the copper - electroplating.
This is my electroplating tank and plate hangers:
