Details
Well,here it is.
The emulsion is a basic simple emulsion as described in the Kodak AJ-12 instructions or on the unblinking eye site. I used hard photo gel and added the silver all at once.
The plates used are Black aluminum trophy plates given a spray coat of gloss poly urithane and allowed to dry at least Three days. Japaned steel plate was tried and found the emulsion to pull the japan from the surface when drying, must not have been clean enugh when japanning.
Development, Two minutes in Dektol 1:1 with Potassium Thyocyanate added 1gm per oz. of working developer. Ammonium Thyocyanate,used at the same ratio, works a little better and gives a warmer tone to the image but produces an ammonia odor when the plate is placed in the developer(use a glass cover on tray if you want to keep the fumes down). Add the thyocyanate to developer just before use, my past experience with pre mixed developer (a day or so old) caused the emulsion to disolve.
Rinse,fix as usual (any fixer), Ambrotypes can be made with using only half the exposure.
The image will darken a bit when dry but not bad, the images posted look darker than they actualy are.
The plates are easly reclamed by simply puting some tape on the edge and pulling of the urithane, what ever is left behind can be pulled off with more tape. I am going to try reusing some plates that had been just washed off with hot water.
The emulsion coating shuld not be too thin or the highlights may not be as bright, experiment.
Tests with Rockland emulsion seemd to show the exposure was a lot shorter for some reason using the same developer mix. Experiment on small plates and see what you get. I usualy make about eight or twelve at a time to start, more won't hurt.