Ok, so the idea of making glass negatives is still active. It’s just I’ve had a lot on my plate recently, but hopefully with summer on the books and other things hopefully clearing up, I’ll have more time to spend on this, at least with wild ponderings.
The Glass Plate Camera project has been re-evaluated, and in the interest of doing things on the cheap (I’m poor) and with what I have available (I’m lazy), I’ll be starting from the simplest possible point. I’m at my parent’s today and my usual nerdy notebook is still at home, but I’ll update this with dimensions and whatnot later.
Now! The way I’ll be taking the first step is as follows:
-Adapt an old Box Brownie (of which I have 3 – they’re very common in antique shops, usually not more than $10) for plates. Not that difficult.
-Cut sheets of glass in the correct dimension to fit in the back of the ol’ Brownie.
-Coat plates of glass in a light-sensitive emulsion.
-Profit.
So you see this is a fairly non-DIY way of getting into it, but It will take me a while to assemble all the materials to make a proper emulsion from scratch, as well as a custom camera/plate holder.
I bought a pane of glass 600x450mm yesterday, which should give me 50 plates. $20 for this size from Aldinga Glass, so about 40 cents a plate (if I don’t stuff any up). The glass is a picture framer’s glass, the clear kind (they make an anti-reflective kind, I’ll investigate this later). It’s 2mm thick and pretty ideal for what I have in mind. Cutting the glass requires a special tool, which according to the people I’ve spoken to in the Glass department at university, is best purchased from eBay. Funny that. Will set you back about $20, including postage to Australia from China, or wherever you get yours. Just search for “Glass Cutter”.
For the ready-made emulsion, I’ll use Rockland Colloid’s Liquid Light. Available from Total Photographics in Kent Town, if you’re in SA, or you can order it from Vanbar in Melbourne. It’s also available from Freestyle Photo in America, but considering how the economy is you wont save anything.
So far I have the pane of glass, the glass cutter’s been ordered, and I’m investigating how to coat the liquid light. It’s out of stock at Total Photographics currently, so I’m looking to get it mailed from Vanbar. After I get some results from this, I’ll look into making my own emulsion, largely with the help of the most amazingly educational Light Farm, and APUG’s Emulsion Forum.