[csant]

Hi Jason,
thank you very much for your reply. My thinking was along the line: when you heat Hg, how much of it will actually evaporate? I guess that since you say the pound will last a long time, it is only a few mg or g that evaporate? If one can catch the fumes from a bulb (or a few bulbs), it might be enough? One could think of breaking those bulbs inside an air-tight (heated?) box… If that’d work (as in: be enough Hg), this could be a nice alternative way to recylce some Hg which is already out there…

I guess it all comes to to the key question: how many mg are needed for developing one dag?

[csant]

…and following up to my questions (now that I have done some background reading on heliochromes): have you ever done in-camera exposures? How would you relate the required exposure time to, say, Becquerel exposure times?

Bakody, please keep us updated on your experiments, as I will do on mine – I am very interested, too.

[csant]

Thank you very much indeed! You just provided an awful lot of information – and as a dag-n00b, I have quite something to digest… I know about Herschel’s experiments (I have worked for quite a while with calotypes), but this is the first time I hear about silver chloride coated daguerreotypes – and I just discovered your post from a few years ago about your heliochromes… I’d be curious to know about their dynamic range – mercury dags seem to have, from what I am gathering, a larger dynamic range than Becquerel dags. How do heliochrome ones relate to them?

[csant]

Ah, nice discussion! Thank you very much!

[csant]

Oh… how come? Jason Greenberg Motamedi’s guide talks about gilding, and mentions that the images “are more archival, much more resistant to damage, and have more apparent depth and richer tones”. In another old thread on this forum I read that in Becquerel dags the image is made out of halides, while in a Hg dag the image is metallic. My next thought was that in gilding an image, it might be a bit more resistant to damage – it was quite a surprise (I’d almost say “shock”) to realize that a freshly made dag can be literally wiped away with a soft cotton wad… I thought that when gilding, at least part of that halide image might be transformed into metal (gold) – am I completely wrong? If it is really true that no gilding is needed, and that there won’t be any improvement when gilding, I am quite satisfied with my progress so far… (and as soon as I don’t screw up an image, I’ll even post a result…)

[csant]

Thanks, that might be!
(Never mind that I screwed up the plate in gilding – but exposure and development were successful… I feel like I am on a good path, even though it is frustrating to lose a plate after a day’s work, specially in a season in which you manage to make one plate on each sunny day…)

[csant]

Thank you very much for the replies and suggestions! I tried putting the iodine into the box about an hour prior to fuming, and I took an unfumed plate with me to compare – it took about 20 seconds to turn yellow, then another 20ish to get a deeper yellow. But then things moved on – first at the edges it got slightly more red, and then turned to magenta as the edges moved towards blue. A bit more, and I was done – all in all maybe a minute and some more. Both suggestions are much welcome, thank you! And having an unfumed plate is great for noticing the slow shifts… As I write, the dag is developing…

[csant]

Sorry to revive an old thread… Just came across a small guide to Becquerel dags where it mentions “Store the sensitive plates in a cool place and they will be good for weeks.” ( http://www.newdags.com/becquerel.html )

Is this misleading information, or am I missing something?

[csant]

Pollywogg,
I contacted you through mail a few days ago to order one, but have not heard back since – hope the order reached you! Please let me know.

[csant]

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!

[csant]

Thank you for the update! Looking forward to it – I am waiting ! 🙂

cheers,

c

 

[csant]

Summer is over and I am starting to think ahead… Pollywog, any news on your fuming boxes?

Cheers,

c

[csant]

Pollywog, thank you very much for your reply and the honesty! I would like to get going rather sooner than later – however, it is unlikely I will start before the end of august: I have lots of things going at the moment, and then I will leave on vacation 🙂 Last but not least, I am already running into fogging issues while doing calotypes because of the heat, would like to avoid having to struggle with dags, too… So I am happy to wait until September. If, by that date, however, you foresee some delay in the boxes, I’d like to take this prototype to start with. I’ll get back to you beginning of September to check on progress of your boxes. The design looks simple and nice. And pricing is fair! Have a nice summer!

 

c

 

[csant]

Thanks, I might be interested – would help me to get going! I am not in the UK, but I’d pay shipping to Italy. What would you be selling this prototype for? Feel free to take it over mail (check my site for contact). Also, what plate sizes does this prototype take?

[csant]

Thank you John for your exhaustive reply! I have not read your article yet – I am just slowly finding my way into the daguerroworld…

[csant]

Thank you very much, it does indeed help to start understanding…

[csant]

Thank you, that was quick! One additional question (or rather, curiosity): since I am new to daguerreotypy, I am not familiar with the “slang”… What do you mean by “I can get black and white images”? As opposed to blue (which, as far as I have been reading up, would mean overexposure?)?

c (eager to learn and start…)

[csant]

Hi all,

coming from a historic background (or, like a lot of people say “alternative”) – I seem to be moving backwards, going from silver gelatin to gum bichromates, platinum, albumen, salt prints, and as of late, calotypes. Daguerreotypes have been a wish for a long time, and maybe now the right time is coming… I am planning on starting with Bequerel, because of “safety” (and, well, because it is easier to get hold of all chemicals – I even have the iodine already, used for some calotype experiments…). More questions I’ll post in a dedicated thread.

Cheers,

c

[Author]

Posts