Spent my time on the holiday break finishing a conversion of my equipment to take 35 mm plates. I decided that smaller is better for now – it let’s me work using much less expensive plates, and use a better lens than I have in my large format camera. I made enough keepers to justify getting a scanner which I set up tonight. Only time to scan one, but I will post more soon.

Nutcrackers (Plate 1006)

Not much to say about today that isn’t already in the Lab Notes. I didn’t quite make my eight hour committment. Oh well, “stuff” happens. In addition it was very overcast today, so I’m not sure how well a Becquerel daguerreotype would have developed. Nevertheless progess was made – and never mind perfection.

Well, in the course of making a backup of TheDaguerreotypist this morning I wiped out some crucial WordPress files and brought down the whole site. Thank goodness for ISP’s that make periodic backups without being asked! After the restore I had everything except the most recent post about making a pair of buffing paddles. The pictures of the process are here.

The goal was to make a simple paddle that could be easily replicated in larger sizes, and had a system for holding on the covering cloth in a way that kept tension on the covering and also allowed the cover to be easily changed. The base material is a 1/2″ softwood board with a layer of felt glued to it. It is covered with Ultrasuede. The Ultrasuede has sewn in pockets to hold some pieces of 1/8″ steel rod that in turn are the anchors for a set of four steel springs. I also tried a string and spring version and a rubber band version, neither one of which worked very well.

The dimensions are not critical, you only need to make sure there is enough distance between the two steel rods so that the springs are under some tension. The free ends just tuck under the springs. The whole shebang just sits on the workbench and a plate held with a suction tool is rubbed back and forth along the top. It doesn’t move around much when polishing sixth plates. It might need some kind of hold-down in bigger sizes.

We will see how well it holds up in use. Now off to make a new ground glass for my camera to replace the one that fell out on my foot.  This was not my best day ever.

Shorter days. less light – cold and gloom. The holidays are not always conducive to creativity. In fact I find it hard to fight off a sort of lethargy at this time of year. That is why I look for opportunities to motivate myself when I can and today I found two of them. Read more »

Creating modern daguerreotypes is often a long, slow, painstaking process – there is much to learn along the way before you ever get to make an image. The many steps and the time and expense involved can lead to a sense of discouragement at times. That is why it is great news when a fellow beginner makes a first image. My friend Jon Lewis has posted his first creation.

Jon is at early stages too (albeit clearly ahead of me). He and I have exchanged a number of emails sharing precious knowledge gleaned and friendly encouragement.  Jon has also generously shared some of his supplies with me. It is good to have fellow travelers when the road is long and demanding. I congratulate Jon on this exciting milestone. His progress makes mine seem more possible.

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