American Hand Book of the Daguerreotype Part 2

Gilding, or Fixing the Image.--The next process to be given is that for fixing the image on the plate. This is done by precipitating a thin film of gold over the surface and is productive of the most brilliant effect when prepared immediately after the plate has been washed with water after the application of the hyposulphite solution, and before the plate has been allowed to dry. When, however, the plate has been dried and allowed to stand for any time, before gilding, the hyposulphite wash should be applied as at first, in order to destroy any chemical coating that may have been formed on exposure of the plate to the air. For gilding the larger plates, we have a gilding stand so constructed that the plate can be put on a perfect level. In practice, I prefer holding the plate with nippers, fastened at one corner. Hold the plate in the same manner as in removing the coating; pour on the gilding, newly filtered, until the surface is wholly covered, and with the blaze of the spirit lamp, at least three inches high, apply it to the back of the plate, moving it about, that the surface may be heated with as much uniformity as possible. Continuing this operation, the surface will generally become covered with small yellow bubbles which soon disappear, leaving the image clear and distinct.

It is advisable to make use of a lamp having a sufficiently strong flame to produce the effect in a few minutes. If after a first heating, it is found that the impression can admit of a greater degree of intensity, it might be heated anew; but that is seldom necessary, and often by trying to do too, well, the operator, if he persists in heating certain parts of the plate, may find the liquid dry up just above the flame, and inevitably cause a stain*; or else the blacks are covered with a film, or even the coating of gold may suddenly exfoliate, when small particles are detached from the plate. The impression is then entirely spoiled, but the plate may be re-polished.

* This can be remedied, however, if it is immediately washed over with the same solution that is on the plate, so that the surface shall not become cool; continue for a short time to apply the lamp under, and agitate the plate slightly, and it will soon be free from all imperfections and give a fine clear tone.

It is not unfrequent that the surface a.s.sumes a dark, cloudy appearance. This is generally the best sign that the gilding will bring out the impression with the greatest degree of distinctness.

Soon, the clouds gradually begin to disappear, and, "like a thing of life" stands forth the image, clothed with all the brilliancy and clearness that the combined efforts of nature and art can produce.

When in the operator's judgment the operation has arrived at the highest state of perfection, rinse suddenly, with an abundance of clean water, and dry as before described.

When an impression is dark, the gilding process may be longer continued; but when light, it should be gilded quickly, as lengthening the time tends to bleach the impression and make it too white. The cause of this appears to be, that with a moderate heat the chlorine is merely set free from the gold, and remaining in the solution, instead of being driven off, with its powerful bleaching, properties, it immediately acts upon the shades of the picture. A dark impression can thus, by a low heat, long-continued, be made quite light. To procure the best effect, then, heat suddenly with a large blaze, and judging it to be at the maximum, cool as suddenly as possible.

When the hyposulphite of gold is used instead of the chloride, a less heat should be employed.

Coloring Daguerreotypes.--Of all the so-called improvements in the Daguerreotype, the coloring is the least worthy of notice. Yet the operator is often, in fact most generally, called upon to hide an excellent specimen under paint. I can conceive of nothing more perfect in a Daguerreotype than a finely-developed image, with clearness of lights and shadows, possessing the lively tone resulting from good gilding. Such pictures, however, are not always had, and then color may perform the part of hiding the imperfections. We present the following method as given in Willat's Manual:

"Daguerreotype portraits are now commonly met with beautifully colored; but the coloring is a process requiring great care and judgment, and many good pictures are spoiled in fruitless experiments. Several different methods of coloring have been proposed. The simplest mode appears to be that of using dry colors prepared in the following manner: A little of the color required, very finely ground, is thrown into a gla.s.s containing water, in which a few grains of gum arabic have been dissolved. After standing a few moments, the mixture may be pa.s.sed through bibulous paper, and the residue perfectly dried for use.

The princ.i.p.al colors used are Carmine, Chrome Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine and White; boxes fitted with sets of colors properly prepared, may be obtained of the dealers, and include Carmine, White, Lilac, Sky Blue, Pink, Yellow, Flesh color, Orange, Brown, Purple, Light Green, Dark Green and Blue. With a few colors, however, all the rest may be made thus: Orange, by Yellow and Red; Purple, with Blue and Red; Green, Blue and Yellow; Brown, with Umber, Carmine and Lamp Black; Scarlet, Carmine and Light Red. While it is true that a little color may relieve the dark metallic look of some Daguerreotypes, it must not be concealed that the covering of the fine delicate outline and exquisite gradations of tone of a good picture with such a coating, is barbarous and unartistic.

"The prevaling taste is, however, decidedly for colored proofs, and the following directions will a.s.sist the amateur in ministering to this perverted taste, should he be so inclined. The coloring should commence with the face, and the flesh tint must be stippled on (not rubbed) with a small camel's-hair brush, beginning from the centre of the cheek, taking great care not to go over the outline of the face, and also not to have too much color in the brush; the eyes and eyebrows must not be touched with color. After the flesh color is applied, take a piece of very soft cotton and pa.s.s it very gently backwards and forwards over the face, so as to soften down the color, and then apply the carmine to give the required tint. For men, the darker tints should predominate, and for women the warmer. Very light hair may be improved by a slight tint of brown, or yellow and brown, according to the color. In coloring the drapery, the same care must be used. No rules can be laid down for all the different colors required, and the amateur had better obtain the a.s.sistance or advice of some one accustomed to the use of colors. A little white with a dash of blue or a little silver, will improve white linen, lace, etc. The jewelry may be touched with gold or silver from the sh.e.l.ls, moistened with distilled water, and laid on with a fine-pointed sable-hair brush.

"Brilliants may be represented by picking the plate with the point of a pin or knife."

MISCELLANEOUS.

CHAPTER II.

Coloring Back Grounds--Transparent ditto--Gilding Dissolvent Solution for removing Specks--Solarized Impression--To Purify Water--Cleaning Mercury--Adhesive Paper--Black Stain for Apparatus--Sealing Wax for Bottles--Rouge--Rotten Stone--Pota.s.sa Solution--Hyposulphite Solution--Subst.i.tute for do.--Gilding Solution--Solution for increasing the Brilliancy of the Daguerreotype--Bleaching Solution;--Cold Gilding--Neutralizing Agents--Buff Dryer--Keeping Buffs in order--Cleaning Buckskins--Reflector for taking Views.

To Color Back-grounds--To obtain a properly colored back ground is a matter of no little importance to the Daguerreotype operator. I had nearly exhausted all patience, and tried the skill of painters to obtain a back-ground that would be suitable to my purpose; but all to no avail. At last I adopted the following method, and at a cost of coloring of twenty-five cents, can now produce a back-ground far more valuable than those which had cost five dollars before.

Take common earth paint, such as is used in painting roofs; mix this with water to about the consistency of cream; then to four quarts of this mixture add about one pint of glue water (common glue dissolved in water, also about as thick as cream). This last will cause the paint to adhere to the cloth, to which it is applied with a common white-wash brush. By applying the brush on the coating while it is wet, it may be so blended that not a line can be seen, and a perfectly smooth color of any shade can be obtained. The shade of color I use is a light reddish-brown. Tripoli, rotten-stone, or any earthy matter, may be applied in the same manner.

Transparent or Invisible Back-ground.--I give this as originally published in my System of Photography, 1849:

"Take a large woollen blanket with long nap, the longer and rougher it is the finer will be the effect produced; stretch it on a frame of sufficient size, and suspend the frame at the centre of the upper end by a string fastened to a nail in the ceiling, from three to five feet back of the sitter. Having arranged this, fasten another string to the side of the frame, and while the operation is going on in the camera, swing the back-ground from right to left, continuing this during the whole time of sitting, and you have a clear "transparent" back-ground, which throws the image out in bold relief, and renders the surface of the plate invisible. If equalled at all it is only by atmospheric back-ground. I consider it to be the best ever known, and think it needs but to be tried to afford satisfactory proof that it is so.

Although used by few before, since the first edition of this work at least two thirds of the operators have adopted its use; for any one can at once understand the principle and the effect which it produces."

It may be added that a motion imparted to to any back-ground where softness is desired, produces an excellent effect.

Gilding Dissolvent.--To one quart of muriatic acid add as much oxide of iron (common iron rust) as it will dissolve in two days. This may be done by putting in the oxide in excess. It should be frequently shook, and when wanted for bottling it should be allowed to stand in order to settle. When this is done the solution may be poured off, and reduced by adding to it an equal quant.i.ty of water; then it is ready for use.

This const.i.tutes a gilding dissolvent now in our market.

Solution for Removing Specks.--There is probably no one cause of complaint so general as "what makes those black specks?" There are several causes which produce them, and probably the most general are dust, rouge, or a spray of moisture on the plate. It this be the case, there is no solution which can remove them, as they have prevented a chemical action with the silver, and their removal would only expose the surface of the plate which in itself would afford a contrast with the impression. Another and less dangerous source of these specks is organic matter contained in the solution employed in dissolving the chemicals, or the water in was.h.i.+ng. Much of the hyposulphite of soda in market contains a sulphuret, which, coming in contact with the silver surface, immediately causes oxidation. Such spots, as well also as most all others found on the plate after it has been exposed in the camera, can be removed by the following, solution: To one ounce of water add a piece of cyanide of pota.s.sium the size of a pea; filter the solution and apply by pouring it on the surface of the plate. In all cases the plate should first be wet with water. Apply a gentle heat, and soon the spots disappear, leaving the impression clear and free from all organic matter.

In the absence of cyanide of pota.s.sium, a solution of pure hyposulphite of soda will answer as a fair subst.i.tute.

To Redeem, a Solarized Impression.--The Daguerreotype plate, prepared in the ordinary manner, should be exposed in the camera a sufficient time to solarize the impression. Then, before it be exposed to the vapor of mercury, expose it for a very brief period to the vapor of either chlorine, bromine or iodine. Then expose over mercury, as usual. I have produced singularly interesting results by this process.

To Purify Water.--Filter the water well, and then add about three drops of nitric acid to the pint. This can be used as absolutely pure water, but I would recommend the use of distilled water as preferable.

Cleaning Mercury.--Make a small bag of chamois skin, pour in the mercury, and squeeze it through the leather. Repeat this several times, and filter by means of a funnel made of paper, with a very small aperture, through which it will escape and leave the particles of dust, or other substances, in the paper. A paper with a pinhole through it will answer as well, and it is less difficult to make.

Adhesive Paper.--Take gum arabic, four ounces, put it in a wide-mouthed bottle and pour on water about one-third above the gum. Add half ounce of isingla.s.s, or fish glue, and a small piece of loaf sugar. Let all dissolve, and spread over French letter paper, with a brush or piece of sponge. If once spreading is not enough, perform the same operation a second time.

Black Stain for Apparatus.--Dissolve gum sh.e.l.lac in alcohol, or procure sh.e.l.lac varnish at the druggists', stir in lampblack, and apply with a sponge or bit of rag. This will adhere to metal, as well as wood, and is used for the inside of camera, tubes, etc.

Sealing Wax for Bottles.--Melt together six parts rosin and one beeswax, and add a small quant.i.ty of lampblack; or, if red is preferable, add red lead. Common white wax is best, as most chemicals act less upon it.

When bottles containing bromine are to be sealed, it is well to grease the stopper. This, however, only when the bottle is in frequent use, for if it were to be sent by any conveyance it would be likely to fly out.

Rouge.--The method employed by Lord Ross is probably unsurpa.s.sed in the production of rouge. He has given his process as follows:

"I prepare the peroxide of iron by precipitation with water of ammonia, from a pure dilute solution of sulphate of iron; the precipitate is washed, pressed in a screw press till nearly dry, and exposed to a heat which in the dark appears a dull, low red. The only points of importance are, that the sulphate of iron should be pure, that the water of ammonia should be decidedly in excess, and that the heat should not exceed that I have described. The color will be a bright crimson inclining to yellow. I have tried both potash and soda, pure, instead of water of ammonia, but after was.h.i.+ng with some degree of care, a trace of the alkali still remained, and the peroxide was of an ochrey color, till overheated, and did not polish properly."

Care should be observed to apply rouge in a dry state to the surface of the plate.

I would remark, that so far as my experience has gone, I consider good rouge fully equal to any other polis.h.i.+ng, material for the last or finis.h.i.+ng polis.h.i.+ng; consequently I shall not take up my s.p.a.ce in enumerating any of the great variety that find few advocates.

Why Rouge is to be preferred.--"Because it burnishes better, and because it a.s.sists in fixing the layer of gold, rendering it less susceptible of being removed in scales when heated too much."

Rotten Stone.--"Purchase the best ground rotten stone of the druggist, put a few ounces at a time in a wedgewood or porcelain mortar, with plenty of clean rain water. This should have about forty drops of nitric acid to the quart. Grind well, and after letting the mortar stand two minutes, pour into a third. After remaining undisturbed eight minutes, finally pour off into a fourth to settle. Rinse back the sediment in the second and third, and grind over with a new batch.

Repeat the operation till you have all in the fourth vessel. Let this stand several hours, and pour off the water very carefully. Set the deposit in the sun, or by a stove to dry. When perfectly dry, pulverize, and it is ready for use. With a little trouble you will obtain in this way a much better article than can generally be bought of dealers. For the last was.h.i.+ng, alcohol, or a mixture of alcohol and water, is preferable."

Pota.s.sa Solution.--The use of a solution of pota.s.sa in the preparation of the plate was suggested in the early history of the Daguerreotype.

It was thought to possess some peculiar property for improving the tone of the impression. It is used for moistening the rotten stone in polis.h.i.+ng the plate, and may be prepared by putting about an ounce and a half of alcohol in a close bottle, and add half a stick of caustic potash. This will soon become of a deep red color. For use, fill your small bottle, having a quill in the cork, with alcohol, and add a few drops of the above, or enough to change it to a bright orange or saffron color.

A Subst.i.tute for the Hyposulphite Solution.--M. DAGUERRE recommends the use of a solution of salt water for removing the coating off the plate.

I found this of some service at one time during my travels. My hyposulphite bottle got broke and its contents lost, so as only to leave enough for preparing gilding. I resorted to the use of salt solution, and found it to answer well. Make a saturated solution of salt in water. First wash the plate with clear water; then immerse it in the saline solution, when it should be agitated, and the coating will soon disappear. Another process with a salt solution of half the strength of the above is very interesting and effectual. The plate having been dipped into cold water, is placed in a solution of common salt, of moderate strength; it lies without being acted upon at all; but if it be now touched on one corner with a piece of zinc, which has been sc.r.a.ped bright, the yellow coat of iodine moves off like a wave and disappears. It is a very pretty process. The zinc and silver forming together a voltaic pair, with the salt water intervening, oxidation of the zinc takes place, and the silver surface commences to evolve hydrogen gas; while this is in a nascent condition it decomposes the film of iodide of silver, giving rise to the production of hydriodic acid, which is very soluble in water, and hence instantly removed.

This process, therefore, differs from that with hyposulphite. The latter acts by dissolving the iodide of silver, the former by decomposing it. It is necessary not to leave the zinc in contact too long, or it deposits stains, and in large plates the contact should be made at the four corners successively, to avoid this accident.

Gilding Solution.--To one pint of pure rain or distilled water add fifteen grains of pure chloride of gold, and to another pint add sixty grains of hyposulphite of soda. When dissolved, pour the gold solution into the hyposulphite by small quant.i.ties, shaking well after each addition. The soda solution must not be poured into the gold, as the gold would be immediately decomposed, and the solution turn black, and be unfit for use.

Some operators add muriate of potash and other substances, but these do not possess any advantage except in cases where it is necessary to bleach the solarized portions of the impression, and when such is the case, chloride of sodium (common salt) is probably as effective and is the most convenient. Add about a teaspoonful to two ounces of the gilding.

Solution, for Increasing the Brilliancy of the Daguerreotype.--This solution will have the effect to thoroughly cleanse the surface of the gilded plate and excite a powerful influence on the general character of the impression. To a solution of three ounces of water, in which is dissolved a quarter of an ounce of cyanide of pota.s.sium, add one teaspoonful of a solution containing six ounces of water and half an ounce of each pure carbonate of potash, alum, common salt, gallic acid, sulphate of copper, and purified borax. While the plate is wet, pour on a little, and heat it with a powerful blaze. The effect will be quickly produced, in from three to fifteen seconds. Rinse and dry, as in the gilding.

Bleaching Solution.--Make a saturated solution of muriate of ammonia (sal ammoniac) in pure water, and filter through paper. Reduce with an equal quant.i.ty of water when used. When the linen or any other portion of the impression is badly solarized, after removing the coating, rinse with water; then pour this upon the surface in the same manner as the gilding solution. If the solarization be very deep, apply the lamp beneath, and warm the plate a trifle. Now pour off, and, without rinsing, apply the gilding. The whole operation must be quickly performed, or the chlorine soon attacks the shades of the picture.

When properly done, however, the solarized parts are restored to a clear, transparent white.

Electro, or Cold Gilding.--This process I have adopted, and it produces exceedingly beautiful impressions for the stereoscope, adding a great charm to the pleasing effect of that instrument. It also possesses a pretty and curious effect on views. It is easy of trial, and may be used by dissolving one gramme of chloride of gold in half a litre of ordinary water, and thirty grammes of hyposulphite of soda in another half litre of similar water; then pour the solution of chloride of gold into that of soda, by little and little, agitating it exactly as in M.

Fizeau's preparation, of which there is but a variation.