Anyone know how to get hold of some collodion to make wet plates with?
I can get flexible collodion through retro but apparently that is not really suitable. Seems hard to find :(
Picking up my 12x10 sliding box camera tomorrow :)
best,
David White
www.nospin.co.uk

I get collodion from www.artcraftchemicals.com and www.mavidon.com. These are both in the US, so probably won't help you if you're in the UK. Have you done wet plate before?

Anyone know how to get hold of some collodion to make wet plates with?
I can get flexible collodion through retro but apparently that is not really suitable. Seems hard to find :(
Picking up my 12x10 sliding box camera tomorrow :)
best,
David White
www.nospin.co.uk

http://www.altphotosource.com/ will sell you a complete setup if you need. Good prices, good people.

Bostick and Sullivan also carry collodion.

Collodion, Ether, and 190 proof Alcohol are not usually posted overseas. In the UK you are best off contacting another wet-plater in the UK and finding out where they get their chemicals. Try asking at either of these forums:

http://www.collodion.com/forum/default.asp

http://www.cwreenactors.com/cgi-bin/collodion2000/dcboard.cgi

Thanks all.

Does anyone know if flexible collodion will work? I think it has oil and camphor in it, at least the brew I've seen has.
No, I haven't done wet plate before. Off on journey, that's me :)

best,
David White
www.nospin.co.uk

David,

Flexible collodion won't work according to what I've read on the forums listed above and the reference materials I have.

There's a guy in the UK named Sean IIRC who does wetplate and posts to the civil war reenactors forum. You might send him an email asking for a supplier in the UK. Also, astronomers use collodion to clean their telescopes so a local astronomy club might also be a source of information.

Joe

Nobody here makes their OWN guncotton ?

For shame.

Nobody here makes their OWN guncotton ?

For shame.

I think most people like their fingers and toes still attached, not to mention hands and other useful appendages :)

Unless you're a die-hard Civil War reenactor- then you play with 150 year-old firearms, so a little collodion is a relatively low-risk proposition :D

Yeah, making guncotton is not particularly safe; if you're not REAL careful, the results are not pretty.

I attempted to make collodion from homemade guncotton once, and the vapors release were awful, not to mention that fact that working with sticky, gooey guncotton is not easy.

Hi - I do wetplate and am in the UK. You can get materials from www.sigmaaldrich.com/ but: you will need to apply to customs and excise to get a permit for the 190 proof alcohol you will need. flexible collodion will not work - it has an oil incorporated into it to keep it - you guessed! - flexible. I think that the collodion used to clean telescopes/lenses with is the flexible sort.

You will need much more than just collodion: ether/alcohol/chloroform/silver nitrate/rottenstone/cadmium bromide and-or iodide/potassium bromide and-or iodide/ammonium bromide and-or iodide/ferrous sulphate/acetic /glass plates/glass cutter/glass grinder or file/tin sheets/asphaltum/acid/sandarac/lavender oil/tincture of iodine/potassium cyanide or hypo.

Some things can be substituted for with others, some you can do without, some won't be needed at all if you do certain types of wetplate exclusively.

It would be best to get a manual first - John Coffer does a good one.

Good luck,
Neil.