Three fixer test

Recently i bought Amaloco x-89 rapid fixer as i was wondering if it would work with Collodion. Well it did, and i was surprised by the result.
Is it a scientific test. NO !  but i tried to show you the differences using three different fixers.

The result ? Well they are close to each other. The KCN gives a bit more yellow look.
Can you call it warmer ? Maybe, but the differences are really close.

The other two show a little bit more magenta/red tone. But again, it's close.

Just one remark. It looks like the KCN also has a bit influence on the exposure ???!!!
It looks just a tad brighter.

If you make two identical pictures (which is almost impossible with collodion) and you lay them side by side you might notice some difference. But when showing just a single plate for me it is almost impossible to tell wich fixer was used.

From left to right
1. Amaloco x89
2. KCN fixer
3. Natrium Thiosulfat (HYPO)

First i precutted a plate so it was easy to break it after the developing stage.

 Three fixers. from bottom to the top : Amaloco, KCN, Natrium

After developing 

Again, from left to right : Amaloco, KCN, Natrium Thiosulfate
Plates were still wet.

when dry the diffence is even closer.

How to unscrew a stuck lens element.....????

Recently i bought myself a beautiful Dallmeyer 3a!
It's in beautiful original shape.
But there was one problem. All the lens elements were stuck.
Also the soft focus function.

As i have tried this solution before on a Hermagis with a severe stuck rear element i gave it a try again, but now with this beauty.

All you need is a fitting piece of thin rubber, a screwdriver, a LITTLE hammer and a large hose clamp.
Cut the rubber just as wide as the clamp itself. Make sure you cut it a little shorter to keep the place open where the screw is.
This to make sure you get an equal pressure around the element.
Tighten the hose clamp slightly. There is no need to tighten it hard! When you tighten it to hard you might break the glass!!!
After that you take a small hammer and gently tap on the screw in the direction the element has to go loose.

Before this solution i have tried several options. I tried silicon spray several times over a few days, tried to unscrew it while wearing special rubber gloves.

Nothing worked. Now it came loose within 2 seconds.

Silver bath maintenance

Recently i noticed some problems with one of my silver bath solution.
While developing plates it was more difficult to spread the developer over the plates

So it was time to start maintenance on my silver bath.
As i did not have any other problems i decided just to boil the solution back to a volume of about 20%.

There is no need to boil it. I just heated it up just under boiling temperature. To reduce the volume to about 20% took me about 1 hour.

After doing this i added the needed volume demi water and the bath turned VERY cloudy.
As you can see the 2 solutions had problems with mixing together.I had to stir it firmly to get a mixed solution.

After that i filtered it twice, checked gravity, added the needed silver nitrate , sunned the bath and filtered it twice again.

Result : a perfectly clear and good working silver bath again.
So it takes a few hours but the result is worth it.

 Silver solution was boiled untill about 20% of it's original volume

 Lot's of dirt after the first filtering

 Gravity is too low. Should be around 1.08

Added extra Silver nitrate untill it reached the exact gravity.

Sunned this solution again, filtered it twice and it was ready for use again

Making your own varnish

Making a varnish solution isn’t such a big job.
Actually, i like it a lot. Love the smell.........

First you need to get sandarac.
Sandarac (or sandarach) is a resin obtained from the small cypress-like tree Tetraclinis articulata.
Because it contains lots of dirt. I once had an ant in my bottle , you need to filter it very very good.

There is no need to crush the small pieces as it dissolves quite easy in alcohol.
Just measure the needed quantity and drop it in a bottle with the right volume of alcohol.
You can leave it like that for a day or so or take the bottle and shake it several times during watching TV.....
When the resin has dissolved you will have a very cloudy solution which needs to be filtered.
For the first 2 times you can just use normal coffee filters.
You will see the difference as it becomes clearer and clearer after each filtering.
After using the coffee filter i always use laboratory folding micro filters.

After filtering it twice again you will obtain a very clear yellow solution and it is ready as a base.
You will only have to add the needed volume lavender oil to finish this job.

 Weighing the needed amount of sandarac

 There is lots of dirt in the sandarc which needs to be filtered out

 After the first filtering you can see the difference already

 After 2 times using a coffee filter now you filter it twice using micro filters

 At the right you can see the final result.

A clear solution (like a nice glass of beer..)

Maintaining your silver bath

Maintaining your silver bath is one of the most important things in the collodion process.
It will prevent your from fogged plates, comets, comets and other nasty things.

Sunning your silver bath is one of the easiest things to do.
Just pour it in a glass bottle and place it outside into the sun.
Leave the bottle open to allow evaporating the ether and alcohol which is left in the solution.
Just in case, put an old stocking on top of the bottle to prevent something getting into the bottle.
ALWAYS put the bottle in a safe place where nobody has access to it !!

After sunning you will notice that the silver solution has turned light grey.
Now every organic part in it has been exposed. This can be filtered out very easy using normal cotton cleaning pads.
Put these into the bottom of a funnel and filter the solution several times until the solution and the cotton pads are clear/white.

Just as easy as that....

 Left bottle after sunning for a few hours outside

Left cotton pad after first time filtering the silver bath

Second one after the fourth time.