Making passe partout or other mats for for dags?

[RonF]

I was wondering if people had any ideas about making mats for daguerreotypes?

I don’t want to make metal mats for my dags. Would a well cut piece of archival mat board work? Is there another material I could use?

Based on photos I have seen, I thought that the old passe partout mats were some sort of molded material like plaster or something, but I have never been sure.

Passe-partout on wikipedia redirects to mat. Lamp black redirects to soot. Clearly wikipedia is not a good source for dag-related topics!

[botticelli1972]

Just be careful of any paper product labeled as “buffered” they contain calcium hydroxide to counteract acids from wood pulp lignin. They will tarnish your plates in a few years. Only use 100% cotton rag paper and/or boards. Also beware of papers listed as “Archival” unless they say they are 100% cotton rag, because if they are not “archival” is just another term for “buffered”. -Larry

[CasedImage]

Just my opinion but the fine detail of a daguerreotype is not enhanced at all by having the rough or fibrous edge of mat board/paper sitting on the image. The burnished edge of a metal mat or the razor sharp line of a finely painted passe partout, gives a much more pleasing aesthetic in line with the physical quality of a daguerreotype. This is presumably why early on in the nineteenth century era the initial paper mats disappeared from the scene and reverse painted passe partout became the popular choice.

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[corey r]

ok, I’m completely new to the idea of passe partout so this could sound a little dumb. Don’t you need some kind of intermediary mat between the dag and the passe partout? Does any one have information on making passe partout? I’m not so sure that I want mats made by some one else and I’d love to have my hands in the process from start to finnish.

[CasedImage]

Yes there is a card spacer to keep the plate surface of the the cover glass, these were simple 1 ply card in depth or more elaborate and up to a 1/4 inch in depth and cover with gold painted paper (for a look at these see the passe partout gallery in the technology galleries section).

The main trick with passe partout (and its not easy) is being able to paint a thin line consistently (so aesthetically this enhances the framing effect, not detracting with an inconsistent one) and in having a good edge to the line/mat window edge. Not to blow my own horn but Grant Romer of the Eastman House and photo conservation fame, has said that CasedImage.com’s are the best, if not the only ones in modern times to emulate the nineteenth century examples.

Bar a couple of trade secrets I am happy to give advice about making passe partout ( and dag enclosures in general) and would urge you to have a go and ask more questions here. observing fine dag enclosures and making them are two different things and much of the learning is in the making. As far as I know there is no historical record of methods used, unlike as with cases in E Anthony’s catalogue of 1854.

www.CasedImage.com

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