The Daguerreotype: Contemporary work by Jonathan Danforth

OK everybody: chime in!

Is there any sort of spray-sealant that works reliably for protecting the daguerreotype surface?  Shellac?  Epoxy? Polyurethane?  Shellac worked for me but I’m worried about yellowing over time.

Post a comment and share!

Andy Richmond over on the Wet Plate Collodion forum has posted an in-depth tutorial on the creation of replicated engraved mats and package preservers and followed it up with some great examples here. This is something that I’ve been meaning to get into for some time and I’m glad that Andy has saved me a great deal of the leg work!

My own process for making plain mats has been to machine them from thick n’ chunky .039″ brass sheet on my CNC machine (lately) or have them cut via wire EDM at a service bureau such as emachineshop.com. Once cut, of course, there’s still much to be done before the mat is ready for its plate package but that’s all part of the fun, right?

I want to take this opportunity to explain some of my feelings about this pursuit.  I’ve often said in these pages that I’m not into this medium for its historical value.  Although interesting and important, keeping the process alive is not one of my goals.  Reenactors, living history practitioners, &c. are deep wells of knowledge and some of them have managed to merge two hobbies: history and photography.  In saying all of this I mean no disrespect or malevolence.  Quite the contrary.

The daguerreotype case serves a functional purpose: protection.  Beyond protection all else is ornamental.  I’ve made cases from binder’s board, plywood, solid wood, and aluminum.  I’ve covered cases in wood veneers, lambskin, goatskin, calfskin, shagreen, elephant hide, aluminum sheet.  Where practical I’ve taken a page from the luthier’s trade and inlaid some cases with mother of pearl, paua, and other exotic shells.  I even have designs for some pre-ban ivory.

So, suffice it to say that I’ve made cases in all manner of sizes, colors, and textures.  With a few exceptions most of what I make I’ve never seen anything like in my history books.

Daguerre’s contemporary, Auguste Comte, put it this way: “Love our principle, order our foundation, progress our goal” (Système de Politique Positive).  In order for us to advance our art we must understand its roots.  I had to make up a lot of new rules and procedures but the 19th century DNA is evident in my case designs.  Why not advance your art if you love it and can do so?  Push the boundaries and show people that these photographs don’t have to be stuffy or historically accurate!

I’ve had to teach myself an awful lot in the service of this wonderful art of mine but of those few have been as rewarding as the wealth of information I’ve absorbed about the bookbinding industry art. I received this e-mail from a reader and since he/she forgot to include a return e-mail address I thought that I’d post my reply here for all to see.

“What kind of tool do you use in the third pic from end under Making Daguerreotypes.”

The tool that I’m using in that picture is a Skife Knife that uses common disposable razor blades. That tool is very handy for thinning small areas of hides or for the Bookbinder On The Go. For more delicate thinning jobs I use my favorite tool, the Schärf-Fix 2000.

Though it sounds like an ’80s action-adventure movie, the Schärf-Fix 2000 is an invaluable tool for making the thinnest possible shavings of leather for covering Daguerreotype cases and other sundries. While not cheap, I can’t imagine using any other tool to accomplish the arduous task of thinning leather.
All the best,

Jonathan

My sister pointed out that my site was not particularly friendly to those of you using low-resolution monitors so I have redesigned elements of this site to be more friendly to visitors using 1024×768. Since I was tinkering, I decided to revamp the navigation header since the old one was getting on my nerves and was incompatible with low resolution displays.

I dropped off five brand new cased Daguerreotypes at Through This Lens Gallery today. Roylee, the owner, is planning to show them in January. The magazine article in CRAFT should be coming out around (more…)

9-8-2006

A Frenchman has my tripods. Georges Rousse, french trompe l’ oeil artist extraordinnairre is in Durham this month at the solicitation of my friend Frank Konhaus. Frank and his wife Ellen summoned M. Rousse to Durham to install four “Warehouse Interventions”. I foolishly volunteered (more…)