Prints from the Demi

I popped to the studio for a few hours today after running some errands in town.

First up, additives to wet plate developer.

Default dev, dev with Potassium Nitrate and then dev with Copper Sulphate.

Standard default iron sulphate developer is fine but can be a little flat. I usually add a dose of Potassium Nitrate to my mix as I think it makes the whites pop a little more. Similarly there are wet platers that add a dose of Copper Sulphate to their dev for the same affect.

From the three here, my usual Pot. Nitrate dev is preferable to me. The copper sulphate version I found way too active, even with the small ammount I used, resulting in some dev burn marks. I’ll dilute it down and see if that helps. So very much better the devil you know. But one has to try these things:)

I also ran off a couple of quick prints from the Canon Demi half frame camera. Please excuse the silver stained fingers

There was loads of dust on the negs during printing, I’m not sure if drying them in an old cotton mill is a good idea, or if its on the neg then maybe I didn’t clean the deteriorated foam seals out of the camera very well. We shall see.

I don’t think you’d want to push it further than 10×8 inches unless the neg was really good. Although I can see pushing the print size along with some toning or Bromoil proving useful.

I have noticed Demi users online shooting diptychs rather than small single frames. Might be something to keep in mind next time I use it.

Also on Andy Moo Pa’s recommendation, I bought some Mungolux Asphaltum varnish for blacking the back of clear glass ambrotypes. The first test plate looks promising. Painted onto the non emulsion side of course.

It does take a while to dry and still had a slight tackiness to it 48 hours later. Mind you, I don’t tend to black my glass plates any more but useful to have in the studio for workshops again least.

It was nice to have a day in the studio to myself, I should try it a little more often 🙂