How i did the framing

I have received several questions about how I did the framing of my plates.
Actually it isn't that difficult. It sure is no rocket science.

This is the final result : http://collodion-art.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-first-exhibition.html

I bought some 9 mm thick oak plates.
Because there are so thin and I wanted to prevent it from curling I placed a 2mm steel plate at the back.
I took 2 small pieces of oak and glued them on the the oak plate. On top of that I used adhesive velcro.
One piece attached to the glass plate and the other on the small pieces on the oak plate.

First I tried adhesive tape but that was more permanent and much more difficult to remove the plate again.
With the velcro I have a kind of picture frame where I can easily remove the plate and put on another one.

My first exhibition

This weekend we have opened our anual exhibition.
For me it was my first time showing my plates to the public.
It took me some time working out the presentation of the plates but i am very happy with the result.

Interview in the local newspaper

A few weeks ago got a phone call from the local newspaper.
They were very interested in the collodion process and they asked me if I was interested in an small interview.
As these are opportunities which are only offered once or twice in a lifetime I accepted they offer in a eye blink.

Sorry it is in Dutch.


Alex

Just click on the picture to see a larger version

"George from Ghana"

This is a picture from my friend George from Ghana.
He's wearing traditional clothes from Ghana.
Normally he's ALWAYS smiling, so posing like this was rather difficult to do for him...

Clear Glass

Dallmeyer 3b open

Poorboy collodion

KCN Fixer

exposure 6 seconds

Some results of recent workshops

"Jeroen"

"Hein"

"Bart"

Wetplate gathering with Sir Eddie

Last Sunday we met Eddie from the USA at the fotografica fair in Houten.

On tuesday evening he visited my small studio and Ben, eddie and me made some nice plates.

We tried some different lenses, including my large noname petzval.

Had never used it before.......

It turned out to be a great lens.

It's alway's fun to see other wetplaters making his or her own plates.
Everybody has it's own way of working and personal style.

some results :

 Eddie posing

 Eddie flowing his plate helped with Ben

"Flaming Eddie......"

"Sir Eddie"

"Ben made by Eddie"

"Ben made by Eddie"

"Ben with my "new" Hermagis made by me"

"What a beauty.........."

yesterday i found this more than 120 years old HERMAGIS petzval.
It's a aprox 420 mm 4.5 lens.
Just perfect for portraits. I will have to make some waterhouse stops for it, but that's a nice thing to do during the winter.

Enjoy :

Camera fair 2010 at Houten

Yesterday there was the international camera fair at Houten ( Holland)
We were invited to show some ambrotypes and to provide some background information to the visitors.
I can tell you, they were very enthusiastic.
The fair started at 09:00 and at the time of 15:00 I think Ben ( my photofriend) and me have explained the collodion process hundreds of times.
We really had a great day.

Many thanks to the organisation of the fair for inviting us.

Ben, explaning the whole proces over and over.

During the day, coffee was his fuel.....

Eddie Gunks, a wetplater from the USA also visited our table.

Eddie, Ben and me

Workshop with Mémé and Wim

Yesterday we had a workshop with Mémé and Wim.
Both very enthusiastic photographers who wanted to smell ether...
We just had a great day, made many plates and had great fun.
They both are eager to start with their own wet plates so stay tuned on there websites.
Some photos of the developing and fixing proces and the results :

Flowing the plate with developer

Almost at the end of the developing time

Fixing the plate of Mémé. Ths normally takes about 15 seconds.

"Mémé"

8 x 10 inch

Black glass

poorboy collodion mix

KN fixer

dallmeyer 3b 5 secs

weblog Mémé : http://memebartels.blogspot.com/

"Wim"

8 x10 inch

Black glass

poorboy collodion mix

KCN fixer

dallmeyer 3b 5 secs

website Wim : http://www.iconoclastica.nl/

Normal film holder for wet plate photography

Yesterday i bit the bullit and started working on a normal 8 x 10 " film holder.
I wanted to make it suitable for wet plate photography.
Alexey Alexeev showed mee some pictures of his plate holder.
To be honest, it is really very easy to do. The plate between the two slides was actually thicker than i expected. It was very stiff and about 1 1/2 mm thick.
The whole process only took about 30 minutes.

1. Put some tape to on the inside of the film holder and put on the glass which you want to use. Draw a line around the glass plate so you have the needed size
In my case it was 18 x 24 cm

For cutting i have used a small normal grinder which allows me to adjust the speed.
I have used a special thin cutting blade.

Because you can not reach the corners with the grinder i have used normal sawblade, which you use fur cutting alluminium or iron, for cutting the corners.
After that just use a small file for finishing.

For the corners i have used stainless steel wire of ,75mm thick or even better is pure silver wire.
I drilled the small holes with a small drill of 1 mm.
Make sure you cover the cuttings and holes with some transparent (nail)paint
Et voila, a plate holder suitable for wet plate photography

Workshop with Charley and Jaap

Today i had a workshop with Charley and Jaap.
Both enthousiastic photographers who wanted to learn the collodion process.
It was a long dag , but we had lots of funn
We made several nice plates with good results.
Hardly any collodion was spoiled !!

some results :

Dallmeyer 3b at 5.6

exposure time 5 sec

Clear glass

KCN fixer

Dallmeyer 3b at 5.6

exposure time 5 sec

Clear glass

KCN fixer

Dallmeyer 3b at 5.6

exposure time 5 sec

Clear glass

KCN fixer