Drying After Varnishing, 14x14 Inch Plates

Varnishing some 14x14 inch Ambrotypes from September 2024.

Retirement?!!

 

Vancouver Island First?

 

Boxes for Ambrotypes

After my recent plea for ways to store my Ambrotypes from the project AMBROTOS KANATA. I received the following. I think I can make some of these with my new woodworking tools.

DW - My suggestion would be to go out to your woodworking shop and make cases sized to fit. A box is a relatively easy thing to make, with the only consideration is to weight: the heavier the plate totals the sturdier the box needs to be. To give a really rustic look, butterboxes can be found at any antique store, just fabricate the slots to hold the plates in the vertical position. This apothecary style cabinet holds 26 glass plates per drawer, or back-to back 52 aluminum per drawer.

Meanwhile this 5x7 road case uses 3D printed slots and holds 18 plates. I no longer use the 3D slots as they make more noise than wood grooves as the glass rattles when "driving down the road."

BR-big boxes for the 20x24 need the plates spaced out better. I alternated the grove is the bottom so every other plate is higher in the box makes it easier to grab hold of.

DW-Here is your guide to making the "racks" for inside the box.  I use low grade poplar available at any building store. You want on the sides AND bottom. The trick here is cutting the slots with a 60 degree bit on the router table. If you look long and hard, Craftsman used to make a moulding blade for table saw, one of the blade was a 45 degree bit, and that works.  If you have a sled made for your table saw, it would be the easiest and fastest. (You should have a sled - it will make all your crosscuts so much easier and far more accurate)

DW boxes

BR boxes

Ambrotype Storage Plea

Sent this out to my Facebook friends

Hey good folks, some suggestions please. 

As my long term Ambrotype project of Canada progresses (AMBROTOS KANATA) I am collecting more and more larger plates. I have spent the last several days varnishing 12x20 and 11x14 inch glass plates. I will be shooting 24x24 inch plates this summer. Eventually I might have over 1000 ULF Ambrotypes.

Here is the question. 

What is the best way to safe guard and protect the plates? How and in what way should I store them? 

My hope is to shoot over the next 15 years and them donate it all to somewhere that cares. Before that happens I need to protect the plates from damage.

Photographing the Coliseum

I have a bit more time to make my ambrotypes of the old Northlands Coliseum before it’s gone. Part of the AMBROTOS KANATA wet plate project. Hopefully next summer. 

The demolition will cost 35 million and is at least 2 years away. It is such a historic building for Edmonton, where Gretz and the boys won their cups! I just gotta shoot it!

Retirment Fast Approaching

Note* My security license expires March 27, 2024. That might be my last day of work.

The Grand Canadian Landscape

I am thinking more and more about “The Grand Canadian Landscape”. The Arctic, the coasts, the mountains, the oceans, the rivers and the plains. With my ultra large 24x24 inch Ambrotype plates, diptychs and triptychs would sing telling the landscape story of Canada, They could then be displayed in my beautiful handmade frames, at galleries across the country.

More thought needed.