I bet you don’t have one of these…. yet!

I got a lovely surprise in the post at work today.

These are laser cut plywood sheets courtesy of Ismail, a friend from the UK wet plate Facebook group, and now a new member of the Collodion Bastards group.

These are fantastic and are gifts, from Ismail, to those camping at our get together in August. Its a shame Ismail can’t make it. I think you guys are going to be well chuffed when you see these.

I can see moulded chocolate bars in the near future 😉 Ismail has hit on something here. Any ideas anyone?

Also when I popped to the studio yesterday I did a few quick tests with my Cyanotype and Vand Dyke Brown chems. Fabriano Artistico smooth 300 gsm with a brightish clear glass ambrotype. The Cyanotypes needed a good 30 minute exposure with the UV unit, whereas the VDB only needed 5 minutes???? Wasn’t expecting that.

Also changed my Paterson dome safelights for these 13w E14 low energy red lamps, and boy does it make a difference, its safe for wet plate, c-types and VDBs so far, will test with some silver modern papers. The difference really has to be seen to be believed. Amazing. Two for £7.95, and I’m only using the one!