Every amateur, no matter how successful he may be, now and then spoils a sensitive plate. Though the plate is rendered useless for a negative, it can be made into a pretty transparency with very little trouble. The spoiled plate must first be cleaned from the blackened silver. This is done by placing it in a solution called "Fanner's Reducer," which is prepared as follows:
Potassium ferricyanide 3 grs. Hyposulphite of soda 30 " Distilled water 4 oz.
Leave the plate in this solution till the silver is all dissolved and the gelatine film which covers the plate is perfectly clear. Rinse it thoroughly in running water, and immerse it for three minutes in a sensitive bath made of
Bichromate of ammonium 48 grs. Distilled water 4 oz.
The plate may be cleared from the silver by a white light, but it must be immersed in the sensitive bath by a red light and dried in the dark, as it will discolor if exposed to the light. To make a positive picture on this prepared plate one must have a positive from which to print, and a paper print may be used, if one does not wish to make a positive on glass.
Print till the shadows are a deep brown and detail well out, then wash in clear water till all the brown tone has disappeared, and set the plate up to dry. When dry immerse in a color bath composed of 1/2 oz. of China blue, 1/4 oz. of oxalic acid, and 1 pint of water. The plate should be left in the coloring solution till it is a deeper tint than desired when dry, then wash in several changes of water till the water shows no trace of the coloring matter, and dry in a place free from dust. Place a cover glass over the film side of the transparency, and bind first with adhesive strips, which can be bought ready prepared, and then with ribbon, or one may use the frames which are made specially for transparencies.
Any color may be used instead of the China blue. Dragon's blood, carmine, green, mauve (which makes a beautiful violet tint), or any color which one prefers. It is very little trouble to make these transparencies, and they repay one for the work.
A member of the Camera Club asks how long eikonogen may be kept if it is placed in a tin box; what kind of pictures are the best for prizes; how engravings can be copied on celluloid; how to take a picture with the camera pointed toward the window. Eikonogen crystals are best preserved in a tightly stoppered glass bottle. Eikonogen in solution may be kept a long time by the addition of acid sulphite of soda, if the bottles are filled full and well stoppered. Glass stoppers are better than corks. The kind of pictures which are best for prize competitions depends on the style of pictures for which prizes are offered. If the prize is for figure studies, a single figure is better than a group, and a simple subject much more attractive than one "dressed up" for the occasion. In landscape pictures an extended view, unless unusually fine, rarely wins even honorable mention. In making landscape studies, for the picture as a picture, one cannot do better than to study the best works of landscape artists, which are always to be seen through photographic copies. It will be noticed that painters follow the advice of Sidney Smith, and "take short views." Will our correspondent please explain what he means by "engravings copied on celluloid"? To take a picture with the camera pointed toward the window use a non-halation plate and a small diaphragm. One way in which to take a picture with the camera pointed toward the window is to take a picture with the curtain or shutter closed, then open them and make an exposure for the window which is, of course, much shorter than for the interior. Our correspondent sends this formula for eikonogen developer, which he says keeps a long time, and gives more contrast than most developers: Sulphite of soda crystals, 180 grs.; hot water, 6 oz. When thoroughly dissolved add 60 grs. of eikonogen. No. 2. Carbonate of potassium, 75 grs.; water 2 oz. To develop take 3 oz. of No. 1 and 1 oz. of No. 2. In preparing eikonogen developers the ingredients should be added to hot water, and the eikonogen left till all the rest are dissolved.