Sutton's Collodion Rapid Dry Plate Process 1862

I’m getting ready to run my first dry plate negatives based on Thomas Sutton’s Rapid Dry Plate process. I have four plate holders for my Chamonix 10x10 camera. Three of them have Whole Plate inserts - I need to modify the other insert to fit Whole Plate and then I can take four plates out with me at a time.

I’m also going to try a changing bag and black foil bags to take an additional four plates - a total of 8 plates at a time. If I can use the changing bag and the food foil bags are in fact light-tight, it will give me plenty to work with while out in the field on a day trip.

I sensitized and prepared four plates today. I’ll expose them and develop them tomorrow. According to Sutton, I’ll have the speed of a Wet Collodion plate, with the convenience of a dry plate. I’ll make a variety of exposures mostly all stopped down to f/11 or f/16. We’ll see how it goes!

Three holders ready to receive the dry plates.

The Rapid Dry Collodion Process by Thomas Sutton, 1862

Here’s something that you don’t hear about, “Rapid Dry Plate Processes”. It seems oxymoronic to put the words “rapid” and “dry plate” together in one sentence. Our friend, Thomas Sutton not only does that in his book, “The Collodion Processes, Wet & Dry” 1862, but he also raves about the quality and that they have the same exposure times as the Wet Collodion process. I did a show on it last August, you can see it here if you’re interested.

So what’s the takeaway? It’s very simple, he substituted the tannin in the process with gum arabic. And he has equal parts of iodide and bromide in the collodion. What does that do? It increases the sensitivity of the plate, or the ISO/ASA to equal that of the Wet Collodion process. So, guess what? You get the convenience of the dry plate process (not packing a darkroom and chemistry around) with the exposure speed of the wet plate process. It’s funny to talk about how “fast” wet collodion is! In comparison to the dry plate process, it really is.

STEP 1: CLEAN AND ALBUMENIZE THE PLATE
I recommend cleaning and albumenizing the plate first. Sutton recommends an India rubber and keroselen mixture that has gone the way of the Dodo bird. Use albumen - one large egg white to 1 L DH2O and a drop or two of ammonia. Clean the glass, steam the plate (humidifier) and flow the albumen on. Let them dry in a clean environment.

STEP 2: FLOW THE BROMO-IODIZED COLLODION
Sutton is adamant that you use a collodion that has both an IODIDE and a BROMIDE in it. There are reasons for this and you can read about them in his book. He says that 5 grains per ounce of a mixture of iodide and cadmium bromide to the ounce (equal parts). That means 500 ml would have about 5 grams of salts; 2.5 grams of each.

STEP 3: SENSITIZE THE PLATE IN A 30-GRAIN BATH
The bath should be a 30 grain bath (65 grams of AgNO3 to 1 liter of DH2O) and slightly acidic (pH 4 - 5) or neural. Sensitize as you normally would - 2 to 5 minutes. If you have to acidify, use glacial acetic acid, not nitric acid.

GO RED LIGHT AT THIS POINT

STEP 4: WASH THE PLATE IN DH2O
It’s important that you wash ALL of the free silver from the plate. Use two trays with DH2O in them. Wash the plate for a minute in the first tray (with agitation) and then a minute or two in the second tray with agitation.

STEP 5: FLOW THE GUM ARABIC…. BUT WAIT….
Here’s where we run into a bit of fun. Sutton calls for 25 grains per ounce of gum arabic. That means you would add 54 grams (5.4%) of powdered gum arabic to 1 liter of DH2O. If you buy liquid gum arabic (and most do) you need to do the math on 14 Baume liquid Gum Arabic. That means you would calculate the 14 Baume to 9.5% - cut that in half and you have Sutton’s weight. So, dilute your liquid Gum Arabic by 50% - 100 ml DH2O to 50 ml Gum Arabic. You can calculate by specific gravity, too - that number would be SG 1.106 - Does that make sense?

STEP 6: LET THE PLATE(S) DRY
Store away the plate(s) in a dry, dust free area and allow them to dry.

STEP 7: EXPOSURE
This is where things change in the dry plate world. Sutton claims that the exposure times for the Rapid Dry Plate is that of the Wet Plate process. It’s that simple.

STEP 8: DEVELOPMENT
I’m going to go into a little more detail here. There is a “pre soak” for Tannin plates with Gallic Acid you can use to make “softer” negatives (not so harsh and dense). This is not needed, but you can read about in the Tannin section of the book.
Start by wetting the plate with DH2O. Mix (fresh) 1 gram of pyrogallic acid into 250 ml DH2O. Add 22 ml of acetic acid. Have some AgNO3 ready to add to each cup of developer. Use a 20 grain solution - 4.4% - have a 100 ml of this mixed and ready to use in the pyro. That’s 4.4 grams into 100 ml DH2O.
After wetting the plate, pour the pyro over the plate with a few drops of the AgNO3 added to it. The image will appear quite rapidly. Develop until you have the correct density.

STEP 9: WASH AND FIX
After development, wash the plate well (you can use tap water). Then fix in a bath of sodium thiosulfate. Mix your fix at 15% - 150 grams of sodium thiosulfate to 1 L of DH2O. And then wash for 20 minutes in running water.

STEP 10: VARNISH
Sutton recommends using a “French Varnish” - which is shellac. You can use either shellac or gum sandarac. The surface of these are pretty tough but he still recommends varnishing.
Shellac Varnish (12%):
60 grams of Dewaxed Super Blonde Shellac Flakes
490 ml Grain Alcohol
10 ml Lavender Oil.

Print Tables and Embossing Stamp

We have some very nice days up here in the winter. What I mean by nice is sunny and 45 - 50F (8 - 10C) even warmer in the sun (15C). We try to take advantage of those days and work on projects, or chop firewood.

Yesterday, we tackled something I’ve been meaning to get completed for a while; a PRINT TABLE. What do I mean by a “print table”? Well, a nice big, clean area where I can work with paper and materials for printing. 99% of my printing will be Platinum Palladium and Rawlins Oil printing. The table is 4’ x 6’ (122 x 183cm). I’ll use half for Platinum Palladium work and half of it for Rawlins Oil printing. Perfect! I’ll also have a second surface/shelf under the table to store large sheets of paper. It will keep them flat and free of debris. I can also store printing supplies there.

I’ve also created (and ordered) an embossing stamp. I will offer prints of the project and wanted to be able to permanently mark the prints. Beyond signing them, and I will, I wanted something embedded and subtle. The embossing stamp will fit that purpose fine.

A nice touch to the print. Make it official! Signed and stamped!

I've Given This A Lot Of Thought...

Years ago, I knew that Jeanne and I would be living in a secluded place, far from the noise and problems of the cities and suburbs.

I didn’t know we would be living in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but we couldn’t have picked a better place. It all made sense to us as we evaluated and examined our goal almost daily. Keep in mind, this had been going on for almost two decades. In reality, we could’ve picked almost anywhere to live, within reason. We considered climate, privacy, freedom (laws), and a lot of other practical considerations. Colorado won hands down. We’ve lived in other places, even lived abroad for five years. We are very confident that for us, there is no place in the United States that we’d be happier than here.

Along with the questions of where and how we wanted to live, we also considered what I would do with my work (photography). Things have changed so much over the past few years for everyone, including us. COVID alone has had a major impact on how people live and what they do, or don’t do. We moved from the city to the mountains when COVID was in full swing. Everyone was locked-down or limiting their social activities to shopping and getting basic supplies. I taught my last photographic workshop in February 2020. That was the first consideration I had to make. Was I going to teach workshops anymore? We had half of 2020 to decide what we were moving to the mountain and what we were going to sell, donate or throw away. I made a decision to get rid of all my ancillary photography gear. The Ultra Large Format cameras, lenses, lights, all kinds of gear. I did that because I felt like my teaching days (at least formally) were over. It was at that time I decided that I would devote the rest of my time to my personal work. And that I would work full-time in service of making my work, not teaching, not working a J.O.B., but fully and solely dedicated to my work.

We never know how much time we have or how much longer we will live. I think about what gives my life meaning. I think about it every day. I “examine” my life and myself on a regular basis. Socrates would be proud. It’s a great exercise to do. You don’t have to obsess about it, you can take days or weeks off, but it is important to always return to the question: What gives my life meaning?

The most important person in my life is my wife, Jeanne. For over 30 years, she’s supported my work and my endeavors. She’s worked hard and has sacrificed a lot. To me, the definition of love is sacrifice. It’s very difficult to do; that’s why most people don’t do it or have a hard time doing it. You should always remember and be grateful for the people that sacrifice for you or in service of your pursuits, goals, or ambitions. Don’t lose sight of that - make sure they know you love them and are very grateful for them. And do whatever you can to reciprocate that support and love. No one makes it alone. No one.

This is going to be my first year free of working (J.O.B.), building, moving, or having a long list of projects and contractors to deal with. I’m excited about that alone! To be honest, I’m burned out on the building and moving and projects that way. I’m very grateful for all that we’ve done and accomplished, but I need a break and to move on. That’s what 2022 is offering me. I do have small things to finish, and the regular “life” stuff, cutting wood, taking care of the land, making small adjustments here and there, but the “heavy lifting” is completed.

Right now, I don’t see myself teaching any more workshops. Between COVID and all that entails staying up here, it’s too much. So, for at least this year and next, I will not be teaching in-person photography workshops. I will share, casually, (YouTube and this blog) the work I’m making, the processes I’m using, etc. But no formal courses.

I’ve decided on a very narrow path for my work this year and next. I will be working in the Whole Plate format (6.5” x 8.5”) and making wet and dry collodion/albumen-based negatives. These will be in service to two printing processes. The first is Platinum Palladium. More than likely I will end up making most of the work in the Malde-Ware POP Platinum process. I will still do some traditional DOP Platinum Palladium but most of it will be POP. That may also include a “gum over palladium” with one color. We’ll see. Secondly, I’ll be making Rawlins Oil prints. Both on glass and paper. This too will include a color. All of the prints will be made from glass negatives, with no digital processes or digital negatives. The bottom line is that I will be making Wet/Dry Collodion/Albumen Negatives making POP Palladium prints with a gum over palladium and adding a subtle red color. With those same negatives, I’ll be making Rawlins Oil prints on glass and paper and will use a subtle red color for one of the “ink-ups”. These will be my main technical goals and I’ll work on them until they are second nature to me.

Why so detailed? The reason is focus! I need to concentrate on limited, manageable processes while still serving the project and what it needs. These two processes, actually three processes with making the negatives, give me the tools to make a powerful, beautiful body of work that is both unique and interesting. There is no doubt in my mind that I’ll make work that is both my “signature” and still supports the narrative of the project.

What is the project? I will keep this brief, or try to at least. We live on land that belongs to the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The entire state of Colorado, most of Utah, and the northern part of New Mexico was their land. Their origin story starts at Garden of the Gods (Colorado Springs) and the evidence of their life is still visible here. My goal is twofold; to make beautiful landscape and still life images of places and things that the Ute considered sacred or special. And secondly, to tell their story, or history in small ways. In other words to remember that they were here. While talking about the 500-mile journey they go on in Wyoming every year, Black Crow Sr., a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, said, “Every place we stop is a rock,” Black Crow says. “Those rocks represent grandfathers..." This is a very common belief here. Rocks, trees (culturally modified trees), plants, etc. all played a role in their life here. I want to show some of those places and things in this body of work. They also called this land, “red mother earth”. Because of the granite (red), a lot of the rock and land have a “red” color to them. Even the Spanish called it “colorado” or “ruddy red”.

In closing, I want to say how much I appreciate the support so many of you that are reading this have given me. I’m very grateful for that - thank you. My journey in the historic photographic processes has been amazing (20+ years). I wouldn’t trade it for the world. There is a big part of me that believes everything I’ve done up to this point has been in service of what I’m about to do. I hope this isn’t my last body of work (you never know) but I want to work it like it is. I’m not even 60 years old yet. I hope my best work is still to come. I feel very strongly about this one. I hope you’ll join me on my journey. I’ll document everything I do here on this blog. Just check in once in a while to see what’s happening. Thank you for reading this, now let’s get 2022 going!!!

Distilled Water - DH2O - Critical for Historic Photographic Processes

If you work in any historic photographic process, you know how important distilled water (DH2O) is - you can’t really do much without it.

So what’s going on lately with the supply and the cost? I suppose it’s “COVID fallout”. The lack of workers (sick or refusing to work) and transport (truck drivers, etc.) to get this product to market. I used to buy distilled water in the supermarket. I paid between .89 cents (USD) and .98 cents - less than a dollar for 3.78 liters, or one gallon.

Recently, I’m finding that the supermarket it out (bare shelves) and online stores (including Amazon) are charging a lot of money for it. I saw it as high as $10 USD per gallon (3.78 liters). And that’s not including shipping. Absolutely insane! I took a hard pass on all of it and bought a water distiller.

I think I’ve distilled 10 gallons now. Easy, relatively inexpensive, no driving to a store, no extra bottles hanging around, no shipping boxes to deal with, etc. All around a huge win.

If you work in a process that requires a significant amount of DH2O, I highly recommend looking into distilling your own.

The First Collodio-Albumen Negative: Success!

This has been an incredible journey. I first read about Albumen on Glass (dry plate negative) 15 years ago and even gave it a try. The exposures were ridiculously long, so I stayed with the Wet Collodion process. I didn’t care too much for the Dry Collodion negatives. They looked too much like silver gelatin film to me. Nothing wrong with that, it just wasn’t the aesthetic I wanted. So years later, I’m still at it. Trying to find a dry process that will give the negatives I want for Platinum Palladium printing. And I think I may have found that process.

I don’t know anyone who’s made Collodio-Albumen Negatives. I’m not even sure when the last one was made. It’s probably been 160 years or so. This process fell out of fashion when other dry plate methods became easier and more dependable. I’m not sure though, maybe someone out there has made perfect Collodio-Albumen Negatives for years. I doubt it, but who knows.

This is one of four Half Plates I exposed today. I only processed this one because I’m out of DH2O and didn’t have my fresh pyrogallic acid with me in the darkroom. I used tap water to develop this negative and very old pyrogallic acid. I can’t believe how well it worked. I do have a chemical burn on the plate. A small grain of undissolved silver or pyro hit the plate and made that little gremlin. The water was very cold too. It’s not important, the important bit is that it works and works well. I’ll gear up and go for some Whole Plate negatives now. I will process the other negatives too.

A Half Plate Collodio-Albumen Negative sitting on my light tablet. This was a six minute exposure at f/16.

A Half Plate Collodio-Albumen Negative sitting on my light tablet. This was a six minute exposure at f/16. Image is inverted.

The original scene. I guess I could’ve picked better light, but I was excited to test the process!

My Chamonix 10x10 camera and a Dallmeyer 3B lens stopped down to f/16.

You can see my bellows extension here. Not too bad - this plate was six (6) minutes at f/16. I’ll get my water and fresh chemistry squared away and let’s see what the other negatives look like - 5 minutes, 4 minutes, and 3 minute exposures.

Preparing the Collodio-Albumen Plates

I’ve started preparing the Collodio-Albumen plates.

There are a couple of things that you need to get right before you proceed. The biggest one is preparing your iodized albumen. I only made 150 ml because I want to make sure the recipe is in order before I commit. Same with the plate size. I’m testing with Half Plate - 4.25” x 5.5” (10,8 x 14cm). All of it is in service to testing the process and seeing what it can and can’t do, or what I can or can’t do.

A few things that I noticed right away:

1. The Iodized Albumen didn’t get very many bubbles, in fact, almost no bubbles at all. There was NO problem pouring from my bottle to the plate and back and forth. I covered each plate at least three or four times with the Iodized Albumen.

2. The Aceto-Nitrate bath (6.7%) sensitizing bath is loaded with Glacial Acetic Acid (6%). It did turn kind of “foggy” after adding the glacial acetic acid. I’m not overly concerned with it, just a note. Question: Does silver nitrate react with glacial acetic acid? Answer: Silver acetate can be synthesized by the reaction of acetic acid and silver carbonate. Solid silver acetate precipitates upon the concentration of solutions of silver nitrate and sodium acetate. UPDATE: This morning, all is good. I sunned and filtered the bath and it’s clear and clean.

3. I did run some tests by exposing two of the four plates to “light” (bulb) after the distilled water wash. I albumenized them with a 60W bulb. The other two, I albumenized under the safelight.

I will sensitize the plates today and make some exposures tomorrow. Again, I will start at 3 minutes at f/16 and increase one minute for each plate. 3, 4, 5, 6 - a total of four plates and covering the spread in Mudd’s book with a similar lens (290mm) and f/stop (16).

It’s simple enough to do. I only made 150 ml of Iodized Albumen - enough to get testing going.

I tend to over-beat the whites, but it makes cleaner albumen in my opinion. This contains; KI, KBr, and DH2O.

Mark your containers clearly. Only use the bottle for what you label it as - cross contamination is something you can avoid with planning and preparation.

Four Half Plates: Collodio-Albumen Negatives!

The Collodio- Albumen Negative - James Mudd, 1866

I did a Studio Q Show LIVE! video on this process in October of 2021. If you’re interested, you can watch it here. He published his book in 1866. This process never really caught on because of the time of exposure, the length of development, and a lot of “extra” preparation. After all, you had the wet collodion negative process available.

This is Mudd’s recipe and methodology. I’m adjusting it a bit for my own purpose/reasons, but the heart of the process remains the same. Why am I bothering with this dry plate process? I have to get access to places I will not be able to drive or pack a dark box into. In fact, most of the areas that I want to make plates in will require dry plates. Moreover, this is supposed to be “the king” of negative making. You get the sharpest, cleanest, and most printable negatives of all of the processes. We’ll see if that holds true here. I want to test making negatives and then adjusting exposure and development for Platinum Palladium prints. I suspect the POP (printing out) version will be what I end up using. Although, the DOP (develop out - KOx) process is beautiful. The Platinum Palladium printing process is a perfect match for collodion negatives, wet or dry.

This is all in service of my next project. Places and objects that once were sacred and special to the Ute Indian. They were the first tribe here (in Colorado) and have a long history (thousands of years) in this area, the Tava (Shining Mountain) (Pike’s Peak) region. In fact, the Ute believe they were created in the Garden of the Gods. I will do a series of plates in that place soon.

CHEMISTRY

Collodion
130 ml Ether
130 ml Alcohol
2.5 g Cadmium Iodide
2.5 g Ammonium Iodide
2 g Cadmium Bromide
240 ml Plain U.S.P. Collodion (4%)

Potassium Iodide Bath (KI)
1000 ml DH2O
2 g Potassium Iodide (KI)

Iodized Albumen
280 ml Albumen (Egg Whites) - about 10 large, fresh eggs
70 ml DH2O
3.2 g Potassium Iodide
.65 g Potassium Bromide
7.4 ml Ammonium

Silver Bath (regular for wet plate)
1000 ml DH2O
80 g AgNO3

Aceto-Nitrate Bath (for albumenized plates)
1000 ml DH2O
65 g AgNO3
62 ml Glacial Acetic Acid

Developer(s)
1000 ml DH2O
4.4 g Pyrogallic Acid
1 g Citric Acid
Developer Citric Acid
500 ml DH2O
9 g Citric Acid
Developer Silver Nitrate
500 ml DH2O
33 g AgNO3
Dry Pyrogallic Acid
1 g Pyrogallic Acid (dry - mix with DH2O right before use)

Fix
500 ml DH2O
100 g Sodium Thiosulfate

THE STEPS TO PREPARE A PLATE

1. Clean the plate - you can also flow diluted iodized albumen on the plate to prevent blisters - after cleaning.

2. Collodionize the plate - this is the regular negative collodion - Mudd suggests using an iodide only collodion, I’m using a tiny bit of CdBr in mine.

3. Sensitize the plate - this is done for 2 - 5 minutes in a regular 6% - 8% AgNO3 bath.

4. Wash the plate (DH2O) - it’s important to wash the “free silver” from the plate.

5. Place the plate in a bath of potassium iodide (KI) for 10 seconds.

6. Albumenize (iodized) the plate - after the wash do this step while the plate is wet. Do it at least twice - flowing the iodized albumen over the plate to break the DH2O surface and get the albumen on the plate.

7. Dry the Plate - I recommend letting them stand and dry. No heat or no hair dryers. Give them a few hours or a day. They will store forever in this condition and are NOT sensitive to light.

8. Sensitize the plate (aceto-nitrate bath) - 1 minute - this is a highly acetic bath, be sure to evenly and quickly submerge the plate into the bath.

9. Wash the plate (DH2O) - this is a critical step - you may want to use two trays of DH2O - you cannot wash too much.

10. Dry the plate and it’s ready to use. I recommend letting them stand and dry. No heat no hair dryers. Give them a few hours or a day. They are ready to use (wet or dry) and will store like this in a dark cool place for two to four weeks - longer in the winter or cold weather

EXPOSING THE PLATE

Exposures that I’m going to experiment with may be very different from yours. I will run four (4) Half Plates at f/16 starting with 3 minutes, then 4 minutes, 5 minutes, and 6 minutes. All exposed on a bright sunny day, the same scene, etc. This is where the 19th-century literature talks about a 14” lens with a 1/2” stop on a “bright day” a landscape would be an f/29 lens and a 10 - 12 minute exposure on a 9” x 11” plate. And a 7” x 5” plate with Dallmeyer triplet stopped to X (about f/16) for 3 - 5 minutes. I’m somewhere between and have a lot more UVA/B where I am.

DEVELOPING THE PLATE OR “BLACKENING UP”

1. Keep good notes. What the time, date, temperature, RH, exposure time, scene, etc. was. It’s important to document everything in order to replicate it or know what to expect with development.

2. After exposure, remove the plate from the holder in the safelight/redlight. Use some DH2O and wet the plate - allow the water to sit on the plate for 30 seconds to a minute.

3. Use 0.3 grams of dry pyrogallic acid and mix with 60 ml DH2O. Dissolve it in the DH2O and then pour it on and off the wet plate - continue to do this until you start seeing the image form. Pour it on and off, not letting it sit on the plate. When you see reflected details in the plate, you’ve gone fast enough. Don’t go too far, and yet get some of the detail in the image to show via reflection. You can look at it in the light. Think of this step as getting an “outline” or weak image. A starting point.

4. Use 60 ml of the Pyro/Acid Developer and add 6 (six) drops of the Silver Developer and start the process again - on and off, on and off. This is where the image will start to strengthen - you will see what they call “vigor” come onto the plate. Go as far as you need or want to - this will be your final development.

FIX THE PLATE

After development, wash the plate in tap water to get any residual chemistry off of the plate. Place the plate in the fix and allow it to dissolve all of the unexposed silver. This may take 2 - 5 minutes. Let it clear and then clean it with a cotton ball.'

WASHING THE PLATE

After fixing, wash the plate with running water (or frequently changed tray water) for 30 minutes.

VARNISHING THE PLATE

You can print from these without varnishing. If you are underexposed, it will help. If you are overexposed put a coat of varnish on the plate. Again, no need to varnish if you don’t want to.

Platinum Palladium Print 19th Century Bottles

Pure Palladium Print

The tonal range in this print is mind-boggling! These negatives LOVE the printing process! Join me Saturday, January 8, 2022, at 1000 MST/1800 CET hrs for my Studio Q Show LIVE! I'll review what I've been doing and share some of these prints! I might even give some away! Do you like Platinum/Palladium Prints?

Sand Creek Massacre Site, Colorado - "No Trespassing" Ghost Dance Project- Pure Palladium Print - January 3, 2022. (2019 Wet Collodion Negative - 6" x 6"/15 x 15cm)