I’m Very Grateful and My Goals
I’m so grateful for this space and to have the time to work here. I just want to make that public. I’m very fortunate and I know it! I’m looking forward to working full time on my projects, experiments, and really doing a deep dive on Wet Collodion Negatives. My goal is to explore several different POP processes with my “evolving” negative-making process.
What Did I Do Today?
I prepared 12 pieces of glass; Whole Plate (8.5” x 6.5”) size. I also made 500 ml of Collodion for making Wet Collodion Negatives. This is a HIGHLY iodized collodion. Sutton talks about it in his book that I did a series of videos on. If you are interested, you can find them here. I sunned and cleaned my silver baths (#1 and #4). I have four different baths at any given time. They are always in rotation for maintenance. I usually carry at least two into the field. I have one adjusted for positives and one for making negatives.
Highly iodized collodion for making negatives.
One bath for making positives and one bath for making negatives.
Clean glass ready to albumenize.
Also, I have some special glass for plate making. Not special in one sense, it’s soda-lime glass. And it’s the most common form of glass produced. It’s composed of about 70 percent silica (silicon dioxide), 15 percent soda (sodium oxide), and 9 percent lime (calcium oxide), with much smaller amounts of various other compounds. It’s special because it’s 1.25mm thick and is notched (I place it in the “top right” position). Those are kind of special attributes, especially for me making wet collodion negatives. It’s incredibly strong too. The notch always lets me know which side is the collodionized side.
Wednesday and Thursday: Plate Making Days
This Wednesday and Thursday, I’ll make some test plates in my new space. Not a big deal for most, but for me, it’s been almost two years since I’ve been able to do this. I was busy building the house and getting all of the infrastructures in so we can live here. I also had to build the studio/darkroom building and then build out the darkroom. A lot of work, a lot of time and a lot of money! All worth every minute and every dime.
