I usually take a bit of a break from making daguerreotypes during the winter. My workshop is unheated which makes Iodine sublimation less predictable. I took the hiatus this year to finish a sculpture that I’ve been working on for about a year: The Danforth Standard Digitrola.

Video of it In Action

Here’s my build-journal of sorts.

I started out with a vague idea of making a digital Victrola. I thought about making an iPod dock attached to an old horn but quickly abandoned the idea for a couple of reasons: it’s been done already (!) and it didn’t satisfy my artistic goal. In a nutshell, my artistic goal was to use this piece as a means for abstracting the listener/viewer from time by creating a whole that shouldn’t-be using parts that could-be.

So, as with any build, I sought out my hardware first. I knew that I would have to design the aesthetics of the chamber around the horn hardware. I dragged my son down to High Point to a swap meet organized by the Carolinas Chapter of the Antique Wireless Association. It was February or March and freezing. Luck provided me with a Magnavox radio-speaker horn in decent physical condition but terrible surface condition. I bought it for $20.

A quick proof-of-concept set up and I moved on to the next step: refinishing.

I sandblasted the entire horn Continue reading →

The supplier of much of my daguerreotyping paraphernalia, Talas, published a great blog post recently about Buffered Tissue vs. Unbuffered Tissue.  I have tried various products to seal my daguerreotypes and I’ve used both buffered and unbuffered tapes from Talas with varying results.  I’ve even written about the necessity of sealing daguerreotypes but what I haven’t talked with you about is how the tape itself and be a source of corrosion.  I can’t speak to the long-term effects of the tapes but here are my thoughts on three popular rolls of sticky stuff:

Permacel (recently renamed Nitto Denko) J-Lar ($13.50, 1x72yds): Alarmingly clear Superman tape. The stuff is strong, really sticky, and forms an excellent vapor barrier. J-Lar is also good enough for the Library of Congress for resealing daguerreotypes.

Neschen Filmoplast P-90 ($19.10, .75x54yds): A gossamer pressure-adhesive tissue tape suggested to me by other daguerreotypists for years.  The stuff is buffered with calcium carbonate to a pH of 8.7 which makes me a little nervous. I’d love to hear from some chemist-types about what this buffering agent will do to silver over the years. (Note: There now exists P-90 PLUS which doesn’t appear to be buffered.)

Lineco Foil Back Frame Sealing Tape ($11.99): This is what I use.  It’s superman tape and it’s buffered but the buffering is of the paper and not the aluminum that contacts the daguerreotype plate.  The aluminum “provides a barrier that stops acid migration and meets the FACTS standard”.  If you haven’t ever heard of the Fine Art Care and Treatment Standards (FACTS) then you’re not alone. Check it. The stuff tears easily (J-Lar doesn’t) and is relatively inexpensive.

As I’ve said before, we can scarcely do worse than our Daguerreian forefathers in sealing our preciouses.  It’s likely that any of the above tapes and any of a dozen others will keep our frozen mirrors safe from chemical nasties for hundreds of years.

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis – Daguerreotype, originally uploaded by Duck Arrow Types.

A collaborative portrait of the very cool band Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis. Great people and consummate performers.

The fading and specks are all digitally added and then the piece was contact-printed.

Layland, NJ – Church Piano, originally uploaded by Duck Arrow Types.

This is the image that I am gilding in the previous post. Pity about the water stains but what are you going to do, right?

Gilding a Daguerreotype On-site, originally uploaded by Duck Arrow Types.

I recently took a class taught by Mike Robinson. I have finally learned the Mercurial method of daguerreotypy! This is an image of me taken by my friend Jill while I was gilding a daguerreotype in the field.