Again further adventures in Wet Plate - making Collodion

Well, all my chemistry has arrived now. I got my ether, my collodion, my metal salts, and my Everclear. I'm still waiting on the bits of plastic to make my silver bath, so I decided to mix my first batch of collodion. I was a bit worried after last night's exercise in torture making my varnish, but all went extremely well today. Now of course, my entire basement smells faintly of ether (and a little like my varnish as well). I'll be ready to coat a plate as soon as my silver bath parts arrive, and get working!

I had fun on my way home from work, stopping off to get two more bottles of Everclear. The cashier at the liquor store saw me coming to the counter and said, "Someone's having a party!". I told him, no, I actually don't drink this stuff - I use it for photography. He assumed I used it for cleaning, so I tried to give him the 50 cent non-technical explanation. I'm not sure if he got it or not, but he did offer a rather cheerful, "wow- learn something new every day!".