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I use thin clad plates and use a simple plate polishing block of clear acrylic the same size as the plate. Two 5mm strips along the long edges of the face of the acrylic sheet secure the plate in position. The surface of the acrylic in between the strips has single sided adhesive on it, so the plate sits on a uniform flat surface while polishing. To dismount the plate I use a thin micro spatula tool to prise the plate off. This doesn’t damage the plate and the simplicity works for me. Some double sided tapes don’t work so well, 3M double sided tape works the best.

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It was the McNamara Gallery in New Zealand and the Gallery owners office was just round the corner out of shot, but yes you would think it might be an issue, it just depends on the gallery space.

I have set up a new page in the galleries section – Displaying Daguerreotypes. The Daguerreian Society use to make and sell a display cabinet and you can see images of it; one at a symposium, one in situ at the "Photographers Place" the photo mecca of NYC for many years and one on the proprietor’s couch. Also some views from google sketch up file I started to have a cabinet made (sing out if you’d like the file).

Another method of display is to have each piece mounted on plinths but this requires controlled lighting. There is a view in the gallery also of some cases I made that were displayed in such a manner.

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My scanner was a Epson Perfection 1660 Photo scanner. I did once use a cheaper scanner and indeed it didn’t focus on the image at all. Caveat emptor!

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Hi Larry, I use a flat bed scanner and it seems to do fine, dust on the top and underside of the glass can be a problem so its easier if you do have your own scanner and maintain it. Otherwise a service bureau’s like Kinko’s have scanners you can use. Obviously for scanning you need the plate in a plate package – cover glass and spacer etc. I have heard of a scanning software called "ice" which scans at slightly different angles and then the program removes from the file the bits of dust etc not in the image plane itself i.e. on the coverglass or scanners cover glass.
The Daguerrian Society uses a thing called a copy cube, which is a box with controlled lighting, specifically made for digitizing daguereotypes, I’ve not seen a camera reflection in there images of dags. They sell them but also rent the copy cubes out I think.

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My fuming boxes have shellac but I think polyurethane varnish would be fine.

btw, there is a test for your glass dish and cover glass, which both should have a ground glass surface where they meet, for a good seal. Place a small piece of burning paper in the dish and place the cover glass on it. The flame creates a bit of a vacuum – the cover glass might rattle a bit as the flame goes out. If the seal is good you should be able to pick up the cover glass by the edges and the dish/jar will adhere to it. If it doesn’t you need to ground the two some more to get a better seal.

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Now thats dedication! Well done Jon. I might suggest some modifications – router the edges of where the dag plates go in, so that its easier to lift the plate in an out of the lid. Also a layer of varnish on the interior of the box will extend the life of the box – slow down the Iodine fumes eating into the wood.

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I use regular light meter as a guide to my experiences shooting, I always guesstimate based on my humble experience and the UV light meter is another one of those things that I try and factor in, how the plate went during sensitization being another. Most often I take light readings to tell me if what I am seeing matches with my memory of another time I was shooting. Daguerreotypes are orthochromatic and so are most sensitive too UV light, to me I wouldn’t want to filter it out at all. Kingslake in his book on lenses remarks how the early petzval lens had a favorable combination of crown and flint glass types for UV light, which is what I use.
I come from NZ where we have some of the highest uv rates in the world (and skin cancer), supposedly cause of our proximity to the hole in the ozone in Antartica. To me a 16 sec exposure on a bright sunny day even with Becquerel would seem a long exposure. I guess it depends on a lot of things in your set up, for me though I prefer the petzval lenses.
Some of the first Daguerreian lens weren’t achromats – they didn’t have the crown and flint glass combination so the colors focused at different focal lengths. Claudet invented the focometer, a wheel stepped back in numbered segments with patterns on it so when in the shot it showed the true focus as opposed to what the ground glass was showing. This meant though that you had to develop a test plate to find the focus… yes a lot of work.

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Hi Jon
I bought a inline fan designed for use with hydroponic cultivation. The ones you can buy for shower fans for bathrooms aren’t strong enough. Of course it all depends on the size of you fume hood/volume it has to work with. I got mine from the UK but there are lots of makes and models in the States. It doesn’t look very big in the photo but it is – have attached the stats with it. It was cheap – 20 pounds sterling.
There are probably better ones to be had so shop around. I need to dampen down this ones power as I use a alcohol lamp to heat my mercury pot and the flame gets pulled around a bit with the strong airflow.

I have just realised that it has an aluminium casing… i may not keep it for the long term as Mercury and Aluminium don’t go well together – btw, bear this in mind when constructing a mercury pot! Mercury can disolve Aluminium, its why they don’t like it on planes.

Some stats on my In Line Duct Fan Hydroponics Extractor Fan –
100 Dia. spigots to suit standard ducting.
Up to 240 m3/h airflow rate.
73 Watts power consumption at full speed.
Will handle up to 350 Pa resistance, ideal for long duct runs.
Corrosion proof powder coated aluminium casing.
Long life ball bearing motor.
Thermally protected motor to prevent burn-out.
100% Speed controllable.
Sound level of 49 dB(A) @ 3m distance!!

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Well the thing with setting up a online community to promote discussion is that I guess I have to front up to questions. At the risk of horrifying practioners, here are some pics of my portable fume hood, at least it should generate discussion…

I am living in Ireland for 6 months and so had to build something temporary. The structure is made of lightweight pvc plastic pipe that holds top and bottom plates of black acrylic. The top plate has machine cut 100mm hole in the center for a pvc plumbing fitting of that size. Hanging down from the top plate is a thick polythene enclosure with the bottom plate inside it, giving a sealed space (apart from the front opening) with a flat sturdy floor. The whole thing sits in a window of a larger polythene tent/darkroom that hangs from a ceiling in the workshop space I am using. The pipes that make up the structure can be dismantled and so the whole thing can collapse flat, in theory.

It is big enough to have a fuming box or the mercury pot in it at one time with working space around the items. After development I don’t move the mercury pot till it has cooled right down even though it is a airtight condensing pot. I also wear rubber gloves for handling items inside the fume hood.

The fan unit is mounted in a window frame so there is only negative air pressure in the room and is connected by pvc ducting. It uses inert plastics, is airtight and when going has an airflow of 150 per min at the base when wide open and closer to 400 when the window is stoppered down a bit.

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I’ve only been using the mercury process for a short while and while I had some disheartening disasters , there’s been good plates as well. Maybe its early days but I can’t imagine doing becquerel again as I need all the learning curve experience I can get with Mercury. Safety is a big concern, I am always checking the air flow meter in the fume hood entrance to make sure I have way more than is recommended. I am very cautious not to even get a whiff of the bromine or Iodine. Mercury is a worry – colorless, ordourless, absorbed through the skin, there’s genetic susceptibility to mercury poisoning and its cumulative that never goes away. Properly managed though it is just another hurdle in the long list of challenges in making the Daguerreotype.

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I have posted some images of contemporary stereo daguerreotypes in the Galleries section (link above in navigational bar). Mike’s single quarter plate stereo is there – note the jagged edge of the in camera mask to provide a image septum. There is also a stereo of a digitally manipulated image of the band "Queen" (Band member Brian May is a stereo photography collector). Also very fine images made by John Hurlock who uses cold mercury development (mercury off gases in a vacuum) who has been making Daguerreotypes since 1958.
Best Mike talks about single plate stereo taking. My sixth plate camera in the galleries section (made be Ivan Rose) has a stereo slide that slots into the camera base – moves the camera across to give the right inter ocular separation between the two shooting positions of the camera. Its another example of single lens stereo taking.

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The fuming boxes I had made by Ivan Rose, which you can see in the galleries section, work well but have a slight flaw. Ivan put access crescents in the plate holding sections – so the plate could be lifted up. I use a suction hand pump to lift my plates as they are clad plates and aren’t heavy electroplated, so the crescents aren’t necessary. However they let the fumes flow over the edge of the plate where they are. This wasn’t a problem with just Iodine and Becquerel but Bromine being much more reactive leads to a unevenly sensitised plate.
For design of fuming boxes I like the old run through design of vintage american fuming boxes. Check the galleries section for a new gallery – "Fuming boxes – old and new"

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I have been trying to replenish my depleted stock over here in Europe and have been sold "resublimed" Iodine which comes in small prills and it doesn’t off gas as much. Crystalline Iodine is much better but does need good ventilation to handle it as its very corrosive to your lungs and inhaling it must be avoided. Try the photographersformulary.com , You have to fill out a DEA form but its worth going through the paperwork.
On your list of things you need – just sing on the forum to get rubylith, I bought a huge roll and I know others have as well and you only need a small amount.

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Great, I will see if I can come across for a day and meet up,I have heard of complete silver plate dags but never seen them – looking forward to it.

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You could probably find a vintage brass mat that might match the tarnish line on the plate, the style is called non-pareil. The plate is a bit undersized so might need to be secured to the back of mat with some filmoplast p90. Make sure the cover glass you use is exactly 2.75 x 3.25", if it is over the size of the format for the case, the plate package will be tight in the case, you might get it in but in time the rails of the case will break away from weakened joints.
Most people use filmoplast p90 tape, some use metal foil backed material like marbleseal but whatever you use you have to be conscious of what an oversized plate package will do to the original enclosure. Filmoplast is not a gaseous barrier so as well as finding a mat you should get also a vintage preserver.
People favor different techniques for applying the sealing tape, conservators apply it to a side of the plate package at a time with overlaps. Vintage seals tend to be one long piece with one overlap on the edge, both techniques fold over onto the back of the plate and in most cases onto the top of the cover glass by 1/8". There are vintage plate package holders that clamp the plate and glass together while allowing it to rotate the whole plate package. A plate package that doesn’t have sealing tape folding over the top of the cover glass or a preserver, presents a problem when being removed from the case. The cover glass will come off leaving the plate and mat still sitting in the case. Vintage sealing tapes were applied wet with adhesive of gum arabic amongst other things.
Before sealing clean the glass well – french chalk and a little water removes all traces of grease etc. Use a hand blower (avoid canned air as applied to close these can leave a fan shaped abrasion) to remove all specks of dust on the plate and on the underside of the cover glass. There is nothing worse than sealing up a plate only to see a unsightly speck entombed in the plate package!

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Good idea, yes we all need to get acquainted!
I am Alan Bekhuis of CasedImage.com. I came to this genre by way of 11 years working in Museums, Archives and other collecting institutions, managing photographic collections. Though from New Zealand I studied at the George Eastman House and my course project was the construction of 19th Century cases for photographic images. Through getting my images on display at a auction preview of daguerreotypes at Sotheby’s NY, it became a business. My case and passe partout making is all self taught and since I have been doing it for 9 years, is not to bad at times. My goal has always been to make the whole image object – daguerreotype in its authentic enclosure and the last few years have been making the images as well. This last year I have upgraded to mercury development and you can see the equipment on the Galleries pages. I wouldn’t recommend being both case and image maker, as it is very taxing keeping up with both. I think Mathew Brady gave up the case making once he became a daguerreotypist, I can see why but I couldn’t give up either now.
I also do web design, the contemporarydaguerreotypes.info community site is software driven but my own web site (which soon I will expand and have my dags on) was written from scratch by myself with a macbook pro and Adobe CS3 (viva la MAC!)

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I hadn’t seen these groups before, they are interesting. One problem with them is the addition of images that aren’t actual daguerreotypes. There are images there by different members with the same frame/digital effect. I would prefer to see a Daguerreotype with out these effects and in the actual enclosure they lie in.

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Its exciting to see a place come together that can show case our Daguerreian interests. With the galleries section I would really to have a individual gallery for everyone making contemporary daguereotypes. If this sounds good to forum members, send me you images and what information about yourself you’d like to see there.

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I used becq. for the last few years and got some very fine results, but late last year I had a engineer make a stainless steel pot and had it fitted with a sealed double darkslide arrangement. Then I had to construct a fume hood and obtain the extra chemicals. By the time it came to making the first few images It felt like I had started making dags all over again! See the galleries section for photo’s of my mercury pot, modeled on Mike Robinsons and a vintage one. I would still like to do becq. sometime but I like the short development time, I get much more shooting into a fine day.

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Hello fellow forum members, great minds think alike, I have been developing another forum for contemporary daguerreotypists! Its like 1839 all over again! Anyway have a look – http://www.contemporarydaguerreotypes.info/index.php
I have a extensive list of modern daguerreotypists there too, though i know have some to add to it
best regards
Alan

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