EJK's Tintypes
Part 1: Plate preparation
This is a page I've decided to write that will hopefully help you prepare quality tintypes faster than I have. I assume that you have bought Rockland Colloid's Tintype Parlor kit or it's constituent parts. I'm writing this because the kit is frankly hideously expensive, and each tintype you screw up is about 4 to 6 dollars of mistake. I'm also going to assume that you can get access to a large-format camera. For example, as a photo student, I get to use the school's. I only with I could afford to get a 4x5 camera!

When you open the tintype kit, you should see a black plastic bottle (developer), a small flat black bag (containing japanned metal plates), a little bag with crystals in it (fixer mix), and a small wrapped up bag marked "open in darkroom only" that is the precious collodion solution.

The first step is to gather and prepare all your materials. You of course need a dark room, since you'll be working with photosensitive materials. Next you need a film holder for your camera to put the prepared tintype into. At this point, trim the plates as necessary to fit them into the film holder; You should be able to cut them with ordinary scissors, but don't use the good scissors that you use for sewing. You'll also need a small measuring cup with water, masking tape, and paper towel.

First, get the water hot - in the microwave, just when you start seeing it fog up it's container is about right. Take the hot water back to the darkroom and set it aside for the moment. Now lay out a piece of paper towel, and put the tintype plate on it. Use the masking tape to create a 1/4 inch border around the plate. This will give you an edge to grasp it by and keep the collodion goo from getting on the plate holder. Now switch to darkroom lighting - It's time to slime the plate.

Open the rolled up bag with the collodion bottle in it, and hold the bottle in the hot water by it's cap - this will melt the solution. It will probably take about a minute or two before the whole thing completely melts. When it's ready, you should be able to either shake the bottle and hear it slosh, or (if the bottle is partly empty) tilt it and see the collodion run. Open the bottle slowly - there might be a 'cap' of unmelted gel in the neck of the bottle. If there is, recap and keep heating till it all melts.

With the bottle of molten solution open, very very slowly tip it over the plate. In the dark, your eyes will not register fast motion very well - you will want to stop pouring almost as soon as you realize that you are pouring. Put the bottle down and immediately smear the solution over the plate. (I went through 3 tintypes before I got this right) If you stop quickly, there should be a puddle the size of your pinky finger or smaller. Spread it as quickly as possible with a fingertip over about 2 or 3 square inches: A proper coating will appear to be mostly white - not completely white like the solution and certainly not black like the plate. After it hits the plate, you've got 10 to 20 seconds before it sets to get an even coating and pour the next droplet. You can tell if you have a good coating by looking for a reflection off the surface of the collodion. If there isn't, don't worry - there IS hope.

If there are uneven areas on the plate, or areas that have jagged edges of collodion on them, you may be able to save the plate without wasting the expensive collodion. Hold the plate backside up, and for about one or two seconds pour the hot water over it - this will almost instantly remelt and smooth the collodion on the other side (Don't tilt the plate for long, or it will run).

Now that your plate is (hopefully) evenly coated with gelled collodion, pull the masking tape off the edges of the plate - I find it helpful to leave a tab of it to grab. After you manage to pluck the tape off (most likely tearing up the paper towel in the process), you should have a plate with a border that can be grasped. You may want to give it a short while to cure somewhat. Whatever you do, do NOT try to use a hair drier on it, to heck with Rockland's instructions! I tried that and the picture's surface has a horrible, mottled texture to it. Gently blow on it to keep cool air moving over the surface: that will cool it down and fixate the gel's shape so it won't run.

Possibly the hardest part of the operation is getting the darn thing into an uncooperative film holder. In particular, the holder is designed for very thin and flexible film. It's edges are probably turned down too far to easily accept a thick, very inflexible metal plate. The whole operation is made doubly hard because you can only apply fingertips to the edge of the plate. Every type of film holder is unique, so I can't really tell you how to insert it. You'll have to figure that one out for yourself.

Part 2: Taking the picture
The next step is taking a picture with the prepared tintype. Again, I'm assuming that you own or have access to a medium- or large-format camera and are competant in it's operation. So far, I've only tried to take portraits indoors, although I plan to try a landscape after spring break.

My setup consists of setting up the 4x5 camera to get three small chairs into view, with a small buffer on either side. At school, I have access to 4 kilowatts of sodium lamps: I set all of them up to hit the same 50 to 100 square feet where the subjects will be sitting. My experimentally determined exposure is ~3.5 to 4 seconds at F/5.6 (extremely wide open for large-format cameras), which becomes about 7 to 9 seconds after accounting for reciprocity failure. Note that unless you can get a blue filter, another camera's exposure meter or a lightmeter are useless. After finding suitable victims^Wsubjects and giving them a complementary tan, tell them how long the exposure will be. Ready the camera, and set it to T or B. When they're ready, open it, count 7 to 9 seconds, and close.

I suspect that these exposures would be far, far more manageable if the sodium bulbs could be replaced with Xenon bulbs and their much bluer spectrum. You'll just have to experiment with the lighting you have available. If you want to try a landscape, Rockland and the internet will provide expodure guides; Their stated exposure of .5 seconds @ F/16 on a sunny day implies an ISO of 2.

Part 3: Developing
After you've taken the picture and returned to your darkroom, the main challenge will be to pry the plate out of it's holder. If your holder has a tab that allows you reach under film, I've found that pushing a pair of scissors under the tab, holding the top edge with your thumb and pulling will usually get the plate to move.

But before you try to pull the plate out, you'll need two (hopefully clean) trays for the developer and fixer. To make the fixer, take the little baggie and pour it into one pint of water. Now extract the plate somehow, develop for at least 2 minutes or until image appears and fix for 3 to 5 minutes. Water wash for 10 minutes, let dry at it's own pace, spray with varnish to protect surface, voila la tintype.