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Pollywog on "Looking for a fuming box"

Pollywog — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 06:10:36 +0000

Hi Marc,

The boxes would be at £350/- for the pair as mentioned.

The delivery for the two on UPS Economy (which is 3+ days after delivery pickup, and please also consider time for your country's custom time process), will be at £35/- to Belgium. The total will be at £385/- for this delivery.

If it's fast delivery, unfortunately it's twice more via UPS Express, which was quoted nearly £85/- by them (2 to 3 days).
Via this delivery it would be at £350+£85= £435/-.

Please do inform me which delivery method would be preferred, or another company courier

The boxes will be wrapped snugly in layers of bubble wraps and boxed with silica gels inside.

For reference on me, my UK's eBay member is arstudioworks, which is in good standing and my regular stuff and junk purchases from the site. And also from another CDag's senior member, Brenton West (drdag), could vouch me.

Please do email me at: photoformulary (at) gmail.com if more info needed, plus I am not sure how to access member's email via the CDags's forum.

-Pollywog

pruts on "Looking for a fuming box"

pruts — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 02:54:25 +0000

Hello

I am interested in two boxes.
Can you send me your price ( total amount included with transport to Belgium) for this ?

thx

Marc / Antwerp / Belgium

Pollywog on "Looking for a fuming box"

Pollywog — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:12:10 +0000

Hi Captivelight,

Sure, I think the previous post had the images shown, but just in case:

-Pollywog

captivelight on "Looking for a fuming box"

captivelight — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 07:26:41 +0000

Hi Polly

Can you post the link to the images on imageshack?

jgmotamedi on "Cutting plate advice"

jgmotamedi — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:26:27 +0000

I find it is far better to cut your plates before they are electroplated. I know some platers want to work with larger pieces, but my experience with shears is that it is often very difficult to prevent little marks, as well as larger dings and bends, and it is far better to have these on raw metal to be polished out before plating.

Often big shears can be found at fine art printer's co-ops or university's print studios.

Pollywog on "Looking for a fuming box"

Pollywog — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:58:19 +0000

The top opening is at 8 inches (width) x 10 inches (length).

The frame's width is at estimated at 20.80 mm thick, these will come in two sets, one of the set is for 5"x4", 5"x7", and the other will be for full plate, half plate & quarter plate. These two sets of frames are something I had made just to throw in for this first batch of fume boxes, I suppose one could quickly build any suitable frames for their dag plates for something smaller than 8" x 10". (i.e. - oval shapes, or any odd sizes perhaps)

The internal volume's dimension is estimated at : 21.5 cm (width) x 27.5 cm (length) x 15 cm (height). You would need something suitable to hold the iodine crystals or bromine, pyrex dishes or lock&lock, whichever one feels comfortable to work with.

The transparent sliding panel for releasing the fumes is made of acrylic sheet, which could be easily taken out with the attached screws at the handle if needed to replace with glass if desired. I prefer to ship them off with the acrylic sheet than glass as not to risk them from breaking and it would be much safer and lighter.

It was suggested that brass latches could be installed with it, but I would prefer the user to supply their own as there are tons of designs and shapes at their local hardware stores or online (it's more of personal taste and practicality really) and it could be place anywhere comfortable for the users on the box (left-handed people usually have different preference as to where to reach for the latch). Most of the nice designs for these sort of latches are designed for boats or small cabinets.

It's ready to be shipped out and arranged for shipment, payment could be made via Paypal at this moment, I'll update further if other form of online payments arranged (Google Checkout etc.)

The price for the box is at £180/- each, and for a pair would go for £350/-.

The price for shipment is separate, please do inform me on your exact address for shipment for me to come up with the quote, and any form custom fee or taxes would be on the buyer. In terms of description of the item for shipping declaration, I suppose I would call it as "darkroom tools" rather than "fuming box", which I know would cause trouble to over explaining to these customs.

Hope these explains well and please do shoot away any questions about it.

-Pollywog

Pollywog on "Looking for a fuming box"

Pollywog — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:21:53 +0000

Here are the recent images of the box that was unpacked today:

Hope these images would show, but I had them on imageshack just in case.

Details following in the next post

dagist on "Cutting plate advice"

dagist — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:12:15 +0000

Lacey,

Check on the DagForum here for the topic "Where can I buy some plates?" Near the bottom of the discussion I posted some info and a picture of the shear I use.

http://www.cdags.org/dagforum/topic.php?id=303

If your copper isn't thick like mine (18 gauge), you won't need a shear as massive as I use.

Good luck and welcome to the world and art of daguerreotypy.

Cheers,
Rob McElroy
Buffalo, NY

Lacey on "Cutting plate advice"

Lacey — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 11:23:02 +0000

Hi-
I'm a new daguerreotype photographer, and I'm wondering what to use to cut my plates down to size once they're silver plated. I was told to use a sheet metal shear--but what kind? A guillotine style? Electric? Advice anyone? Thanks so much!
Lacey

Pollywog on "Looking for a fuming box"

Pollywog — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 09:15:49 +0000

The boxes finally arrived!

I will be uploading the images and its details later tonight.

On the side note, I hoped and pray for the well-being of any CDags members, friends & families that was hit badly by the Sandy Storm in NY.

As much as disasters as such brings about great images, which I think will be part for those affected by it, I do hope all are in good health and recover well.

Take care and I'll post an update soon.
-Pollywog

TyG on "Modern 8x10 Field Plate Camera"

TyG — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 09:36:47 +0000

I have been making plate cameras for a few years. I have been wanting to come up with a modern version of dedicated plate camera for a couple years. This is what I've come up with. An 8x10 field plate camera. Min F.L. 7", max F.L. 26", 7" square lensboard, weighs 17.6 lbs. Rise/fall on front, tilt on rear. Roughly 16"x16"x7" folded. Ground Glass made by Steve Hopf.
Images on my website [url=http://www.guillorycameras.com]
Or
Look me up on facebook, just search Guillory Cameras.
Here is a link to a short video showing how the camera works and is designed. The camera in the video is an unfinished camera.
[url=http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=400708063334685]

csant on "Looking for a fuming box"

csant — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:05:21 +0000

Thank you Pollywog for answering Rob's questions - they were also mine but I refrained from just asking the same… Let us know when you are ready - and you'll have at least my order flying in!

Pollywog on "Looking for a fuming box"

Pollywog — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:01:14 +0000

Hi Rob,

Thanks for asking a few, but very important questions.

I thank you for the compliment, but I have to tribute the design which I had observed across the gallery of the CDag's significant members; Ivan Rose, Marc Fish, Mike Robinson, and certainly highly appreciated advise from Brenton West.

On the box:

As on how the plates would be held, there's four rails to hold the plates/smaller frames. I suppose it'll give the desired effect that you had mentioned.

The fume boxes are located in Malaysia, or at the sea as we speak, heading towards London right now. And I am currently located in Plymouth, which is unfortunately I would not be able to produce anymore images other than the ones I had shown earlier. I promise I'll upload the details as requested by the end of the month.

The sizes of the frames, as seen in the pictures:

(1) Whole Plate: 8 1/2 inches x 6 1/2 inches
(2) Half Plate: 6 3/8 inches x 4 3/4 inches
(3) Quarter Plate: 4 1/4 inches x 3 1/4 inches

The sizes of the frames were based from Chevalier's dimension on Daguerreotype's plate sizes, which it was based to English plate sizes, I think the French plates had slightly different sizes for their whole, half and quarter plates.

In any case, other sized frames shouldn't be hard to make and quite fast to lash out in the woodshop here in Plymouth. If anyone have different sizes, like modern film sizes, I could do those if requested. The largest opening of the box is 8" x 10", so it'll be anything smaller of frames (i.e.: 4" x 5", 5" x 7" etc.).

In terms of leakage, I had recalled speaking with a lab technician in regards for keeping resublimed iodine crystals in a tupperware like Lock & Lock, he mentioned it might work if its tested with regular smoke first and observed for any signs of leakage before committing to iodine crystals, the discussion was brief but requires proof that it must work safely.

In terms of the box being a used as a storage, from what I had seen, won't be a perfect tool for it. What I had observed previously from Christopher Brenton West's workshop, is to put the iodine crystals back into its original lab bottle containment,

The iodine fumes would raise significantly at 18-20 degree Celsius. The temperature in the UK requires a bit of help warming up the crystals as it's always on the lower side in most of the shaded environment, hence it's just safer to have those crystals in the bottle rather than in the box.

In my previous (prototype) box, I had made an extra internal box, where its lips touches the glass/acrylic. This might work to evenly distribute the fume (theoretically at least), but I had noticed that it runs the risk of the wood expanding if the humidity goes high, it was a component that I had to let go for this batch until I find some way suitable to fit this kind of design.

I had tried bottom spring, but I ended up having a hard time shoving the glass/acrylic sheet back in as it tilts the dish inside. Probably another member could advise me on this.

There's a ton of ways modifying the box to suit the users, I believe this fuming box would work for quite a while.

In terms of price, I had mentioned it'll be at GBP 180/- each, I suppose a pair would go at GBP 350/-. I know I won't be rich doing this, but at least it's something for future daguerrean to maintain the practice. Who knows, I might go all out making a basic "Dag Kit" in the future.

The shipment to the USA, I'll have to calculate first where exactly it'll go to in the US once I have the box at hand (it's roughly around 4 kg, packed should be around 5kg with foams and box). I wonder what to write it off as? A small furniture? Lol.

I hoped these explanation answered some of the enquiries. I'll put up the following images of the fuming box soon.

-Pollywog

dagist on "Looking for a fuming box"

dagist — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 08:03:01 +0000

Dear Pollywog,

You have produced some beautiful sensitizing boxes that have a wonderful old-school (19th century) look to them.

I have a couple questions. I can't tell from your photos how a plate is prevented from falling through the opening in the nesting plate holders. I'm assuming you have at least two (hopefully four) rails or rabbets in the openings of each of your plate holder sizes, or small wires in the corners, but they aren't visible in your photos.

I ask this because it's aesthetically more pleasing when the sensitized area of the plate has an even border of non-sensitization around the entire perimeter (all four sides) of the plate instead of just on two sides or with a corner holding method. Can you post another photo that shows how the plate is held in?

Also, there doesn't seem to be a way to prevent iodine from leaking out of the boxes when not in use (and while in use) which is usually accomplished by some type of screw-clamp from above, or spring pressure from underneath, the iodine dish. Do you have an idea for accomplishing this? I don't know of any glass or Pyrex dishes that have airtight lids and I'm not sure how suitable the Tupperware you mentioned will be for long-term iodine or bromine storage.

Have you come up with a final price for your new boxes; is there a discount if someone purchases two boxes to accommodate their iodine and bromine? What are the dimensions of the plate holders that will come with each box? A shipping price per box to the US would also be helpful.

Thanks for taking the initiative to produce new sensitizing boxes and make them available to the many potential new daguerreians who have become fascinated by the process and want to produce images for themselves.

Cheers,
Rob McElroy
Buffalo, NY

Pollywog on "Looking for a fuming box"

Pollywog — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:16:55 +0000

Again, I had trouble uploading the images here.

These are the links to the finished fuming box:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/213/img0138lug.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/850/img0133ra.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/145/img0135de.jpg/

Hope these shows up.

Take care.
-Pollywog

Pollywog on "Looking for a fuming box"

Pollywog — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:09:43 +0000

Sorry for the long wait, I had to manage quite a number of difficult papers in the last few months (doing PhD and all).

In any case, back to the Dag world. Yes, good news, the box is ready and it's currently on the ship to London. I had to manage to have them built in Malaysia just to keep the cost low. I'm going up to London by the end of the month (31st October) to receive them and hopefully, if there's interest, I'll reserve a few as enquired by some members earlier.

The box's design was prepped with an arm rest at the back to prevent the top part from falling all the way to the back and risking the its hinges from breaking off. It's slightly bigger to accommodate to the slightly larger 8" x 10" opening, so one could fit similar or lesser size catch frame.

I hope this news would ease to those waiting for it.

-Pollywog

Bakody on "Cold mercury development problems"

Bakody — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:49:26 +0000

I think I measured f5.6, time was 1/125. I think it's more important, that I sensitized just with iodine until rose colour and maybe I gilded for too long. I had to change on the exposure time from 6.7min to 13.3min.
This is the latest: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=406839849383272&set=a.371776002889657.82853.371771479556776&type=1&relevant_count=1
Here the exposition time was 27min. I sensitized just with iodine until rose colour and I think the gilding was better this time. Development time was 3 hours at -0.96bar, temperature 14C.

I ordered the bromine. I hope until this weekend it will arrive so I can try it soon. At the first try I want to mix 1-2 drops of bromine with some water and put it in to the fuming box and maybe if result wont be too good or not too even, mix it with silica gel.

botticelli1972 on "Looking for a fuming box"

botticelli1972 — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:41:13 +0000

Any news?

botticelli1972 on "Cold mercury development problems"

botticelli1972 — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:25:39 +0000

I like the tones as well, what were the exposure f stop and time?

sal on "ISO: Daguerreotypists for NYC Wedding"

sal — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:20:26 +0000

I've been looking through Mr. Spagnoli's online information, and I haven't found any way to contact him. Do you know if he has an email address or phone number?

Thank you, again.

-- Sal
smile.

dagist on "ISO: Daguerreotypists for NYC Wedding"

dagist — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 21:09:13 +0000

Sal,

Jerry Spagnoli is the master and has his studio on West 26th St. in NYC. If he's in town, and available, a daguerreotype by Jerry will be one of your sister and her husband's most treasured wedding gifts.

Good luck,
Rob McElroy
Buffalo, NY

sal on "ISO: Daguerreotypists for NYC Wedding"

sal — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:26:25 +0000

My "little" sister is getting married this week, is an artist and a professor of photography, and it _just_ occurred to me that the best gift I could possibly give here is a Daguerreotype of her and her husband (better late than never?). I know this is ridiculously late notice, but on the off chance it can be done, does anyone know a daguerreotypist in or near the NYC area who might be interested or know someone who is?

Thanks!

-- Sal

P.S. I'm sure this is a biased audience, but if you were giving a gift, would you make a daguerrotype, tintype, or something else? Not being a photo person myself, is one substantially more "interesting" (from a a historical perspective) than the other? Or more practical?

smile.

Bakody on "Cold mercury development problems"

Bakody — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 11:41:53 +0000

Thank you John!
At the next 2 weeks I wont have time make new dags, but I will order bromine soon.
After hen I took the picture about this dag, some yellow-white spots came out at the top, where the water is overexposed. Nothing serious, just in a small area.

photolytic on "Cold mercury development problems"

photolytic — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 06:26:18 +0000

The tones are wonderful.
My wife has water lilies too but it is getting too cold for them to bloom here.
I think that you are ready to add bromine to your fuming.
For solarization and high contrast, keep the bromine to a minimum.
The fuming time will depend upon how much bromine is in your quick but 8seconds @ 20C is usually enough. You should see a color change (rose-violet) after the second iodine fuming.
Best of luck, John

Bakody on "Cold mercury development problems"

Bakody — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 20:45:39 +0000

It's cold mercury developed dag. I can make just cold mercury developed dags.
I usually iodizing for magenta, purple.
So I will increase the exposure and make shorter developing time.
Thank you!

photolytic on "Cold mercury development problems"

photolytic — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 14:07:02 +0000

I like the slightly brown colors on your water lily Dag.
Is that cold or hot mercury developed?
Most of my experience with iodized plates is with Becquerel development.
I found that Iodizing to a magenta color (40=60second@20C) or a blue color (70-90seconds) worked faster than iodizing to a yellow-rose color (15-20 seconds), but I was not looking for solarization. Your best conditions to create blue colors are to increase the exposure and shortening the developing time.

Bakody on "Cold mercury development problems"

Bakody — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:06:38 +0000

"water lily" http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=401445699922687&set=a.371776002889657.82853.371771479556776&type=1&ref=nf
On the same plate what I used before, my first acceptable mercury developed daguerreotype! It's a little bit over gilded, but I keep it. I still couldn't get blue solarization, but I will keep trying. Do you have any advice? Yellow or yellow-rose colour for iodine and maybe shorter development time?
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31ohTar25Vg

photolytic on "Cold mercury development problems"

photolytic — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 16:47:25 +0000

Once you get a mercury spot on a plate it requires a double buffing to remove all traces of the mercury residue. Before that happens these traces of mercury leave an area that is less sensitive. One technique to remove traces of mercury is to "burn the plate". You can do this by heating it in an old electric frying pan to 150C to evaporate all traces of mercury before the final polishing. This must be done outdoors to safely disperse any mercury fumes coming from the plate.

Bakody on "Cold mercury development problems"

Bakody — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 11:58:37 +0000

Today I had time to make 2 images on the same test plate like before. You still can see where was the white mercury spot, but it's lighter and lighter...
Street view:
temperature: 17C
vacuum: -0.96bar
development time: 4h

Lettuce:
temperature: 17C
vacuum: -0.96bar
development time: 3h
Little bit overexposed.

I think 3 hours of development is not enough. Something still wrong in my process, because in one side the image is black.
I wanted to ask how to make blue solarization, but I found the answer in the forum: I need to use thinner iodine coating (yellow-rose). Now I'm using purple.

photolytic on "Cold mercury development problems"

photolytic — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 06:36:50 +0000

The spot is caused by a large mercury droplet falling on the plate. This can happen with hot mercury also. Movement of the desiccator during development can be the cause.
Always face the plate down so mercury cannot fall onto it from the top of the desiccator. Do not put the plate in contact with the mercury bowl. When you pour the mercury out of the bowl it may leave tiny droplets of Hg on the rim of the bowl. I have developed both large and small plates in the same large desiccator and have not seen much difference in development time.

5.5 hours at 17C seems too long but the plate does not look overdeveloped.

Bakody on "Cold mercury development problems"

Bakody — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:56:46 +0000

This was my third try with vacuum development.
temperature: 17C
vacuum: -0.96bar
development time: 5.5h
On the picture you can see, what I can see from my window.
I had to lover the position of the plate, closer to the mercury. Compare to the plate size, my vacuum chamber is big, so I put the mercury in a low glass plate and I put it in to a small plastic container. My plate is just fir in the container. So like this I can concentrate the mercury fumes to the plate.
It's a little bit dirty because of the quick washing.
Is this plate overdeveloped? What is in the middle of the picture (huge white spot)? Why is it there?

Bakody on "Cold mercury development problems"

Bakody — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:29:32 +0000

Thank you for your answer!
I calculated with the Becquerel exposure time.
I will try to make a couple of new images this weekend. I will let you know how good is the result.

photolytic on "Cold mercury development problems"

photolytic — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:29:55 +0000

You may also have to increase the exposure time. Remember that the speed of a mercury developed iodized plate is the same as a Becquerel plate which is approximately 60 times slower than an iodine/bromine plate so just substitute minutes for seconds and you will have the correct exposure.

As for the mercury temp, I would not let it cool below 15C. Mercury vapor pressure at 10C is 0.00049mmHg or approx 40% of the Hg's vapor pressure (0.001201mmHg) at 20C. To compensate for this you would have to increase your development time by about 2.5x or 5hrs at 27in Hg.
You could also increase your vacuum to 28 to 29 inches of hg

Bakody on "Cold mercury development problems"

Bakody — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 12:11:14 +0000

Hello John,
Yesterday I made my first vacuum developed mercury dag. The result wasn't too good. Actually I could see just the shadow of the object in the image, but I know what was the problem: I need to have much more development time.
I would like to ask the flowing thing:
In Hungary the winter is coming, the temperature will drop down soon. It's already around 20C. I saw it somewhere that over 21C mercury fumes increase fast in the air. Do you have any experience with temperature less then 20C? How will mercury fumes change in the temperature like 15, 10, 5C?

CasedImage on "exhibiting daguerreotypes"

CasedImage — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 01:33:51 +0000

Hi Dafna, there is another option to avoid the white walled gallery space, which is internally lit display cabinets. I had 5 made that have led side lighting. THis is much better than the Daguerreian society version which had a UV tube light in the top of the cabinet (also the exhibit in Bry Sur Marne in 2009 had this too) as you don't see the light source in the reflection. This is because the underside of the top of the cabinet is covered in black velvet and the daguerreotypes sit on a 45 degree angle underneath this. I had these cabinets made for the usually adverse lighting conditions of art gallery spaces. The led lights provide a cold light source so the cabinet doesn't heat up, another advantage is that you can get the dark reflection looking at the plate from far away to up close to the cabinet.