Postby alexgard » 24 Jun 2015, 09:07
It's hard to say how much I'm spending per plate, Josh. There's a lot of cost factors. The glass costs me $130/meter (but if you don't like an image you can simply clean it off and re-use the plate). The silver costs about $100 for a 1 litre tank (about 90g) that will last for a long time given proper care, with only minimal top-ups with silver every couple of days (less than a gram)
All the other chemicals and equipment involved I really couldn't give you an estimate and I'd hate to even attempt to for fear of shocking myself with how much money I've blown getting all this set up. At home I've got a make-shift lab with bottles, beakers, powders, chemicals, scales, hot plates, glass, filters, pH strips, hydrometer and a bunch of other crap. I'm waiting for the day our landlord pulls us aside and asks us if we're up to no good down there in the basement LOL. My van has been converted into a crude dark-tent for making these plates in the field, all the equipment cost a pretty penny... But to answer your question I think yes to make a plate is much more expensive than film. One big draw for me to this process is at the end of a shoot you have the finished product in your hand. I don't have a darkroom/enlarger so for me using film just means scanning negatives and bypassing having a tangible object in my hands. It's a remarkable process and even if everything goes wrong it's quite rewarding. But even before starting there was a good 2-3 weeks of being at home mixing up chemicals and waiting for certain chemicals to ripen, cleaning plates, de-burring them, getting everything ready. The initial setting up process was intense and work-heavy. Massive respect for the guys that were doing this back in the day for a living.
Shane, there is actually a negative. An "ambrotype", or positive image, is actually an under-exposed negative. If I were to considerably prolong the exposure time and use a different developer formula and use clear glass I would end up with a negative that you can print from. When you pour the developer onto the plate, with 15-16 seconds a negative image appears on the glass. When you put it in the fixer you can watch the negative become a positive image before your eyes. Very cool. Also, I actually haven't even done any film work since I started this, as I said I stil have heaps of film in the fridge to develop. But I would say no, I would not be developing film any differently, they are two completely different processes. The wet plate process you hold the plate in your hand and pour developer over it and hold for 15 seconds before stopping with water, in your dark tent, then you can take it outside daylight and put it in the fixer/wash.
Regarding the imperfections, yes I know a lot of people do enjoy the imperfections and they certainly do add character, but at the end of the day they are flaws and error in technique and chemistry, and if you were to take it seriously you would want to be trying to constantly improve. As much as flaws in the WPC process do add character, a perfectly executed plate is incredible. I hope to one day get there.
