tintypes & ambrotypes part deux

her face
tintype 2 min at f22 contact print

her hand

tintype 3 min f22

her mouth
ambrotype on black (grey) glass

i like the way these came out, but would like to work on getting more even coating. tried some tests on black acrylic which came out nicely as well. it may be more interesting and easy to get...

small pieces

in my garden

Somehow, I found time to garden.

coating tintypes & ambrotypes

i followed the advice of a fellow photographer on coating metal with emulsion--place the piece of metal onto a metal 4x5 tank turned upside down in a heated water bath to keep warm. luckily, i had purchased an electric skillet from goodwill a while back to use for polaroid transfers, and it was perfect. even though the emulsion did not stay liquid, it did stay liquid long enough to move it around and get a decent coat. this heating method did not work so well with glass or acrylic.

i used instructions on wet plate preparation i found on alternativephotography.com and mixed gelatin with chrom alum and photo flo. the mixture seemed to coat the glass & acrylic & glazed tile fine, but when it came to coating the emulsion, it did not want to stay even. it seemed like the emulsion pulled away from parts and left large areas uncovered. i don't know if the heating caused the gelatin to melt, and maybe i should not have heated it, but it was not wanting to stay on. i'll try making some images and seeing if the emulsion sticks.

i may also try the gelatin mixture minus the photo flo which was recommended for flowing the gelatin over the plate.

body of evidence

Body of Evidence II


Body of Evidence I

i'm not sure if i'll stick with this title. it's what i thought up in 5 min. it's catchy but is it cliche? i suppose i could always change the name later.

these are deceptively simple-looking considering how much time and problem-solving went into making them. it's satisfying to see them up, working and looking so clean. there's a third piece that goes with this series that i need to tackle, and then i'm ready to throw myself into something new.

second thoughts

when i started making photographs, i thought that was my thing. everyone has a thing, and photography was my thing. julie paints, nif is a printmaker, dwayne makes music. i don't know how i didn't see that i was falling into the human habit of defining and labeling or rather satisfying that need. now i believe photography is not my thing. don't get me wrong. i love photography. i will still make photographs and objects with photographic images, but i don't think photography is my thing. i'm not a natural at it. i'm not a great photographer, but i can make interesting photos if i work at it, and i can get better at it as with anything. that's not even the point. i don't really know what my thing is or if i will ever have a thing. it's a little scary but liberating to realize this. i do know that i like to make things and think about them and why i make them or would want to.

make II

i have been:
knitting (or learning to)
rolling slabs
wheel-throwing cat bowls (that's about all i can do for now)
sawing, sweat soldering (first time)
reading up on electronics
making tintypes
perfecting salads

i still want to:
make kallitypes
make platinum prints with my new exposure unit
follow through on my idea with cyanotypes & string sculpture
cast more slip babies
make a pinhole image inside an egg
embed images in resin babies
play with leds
crochet
learn screenprinting
make things out of porcelain
find more time to do all these things and more...

uv exposure unit

my uv exposure unit. one for half this size usually sells for $550. mike built this for under $300. i helped with the research.

it works.
i'm ready to print platinum...day or night. rain or shine.

make weekend

made rocks, egg-like things, slabs into little raku plates

went to sf.

justin & laura's cat little girl

went to maker faire. made yarn out of wool.

ryan at make faire.
breakfast.

homeward.