I am from Cape Town, South Africa and I am in the process to gather chemicals and gear to be able to start with Wetplate photography.
I am connected on: www.collodion.com; www.cwreenactors.com/phorum
and I have also ordered John Coffer's book with DVD's.

I am running though in to a big pothole in my journey. Collodion USP is not available in South Africa and to ship it here is going to cost me $460.00.

My question: How difficult is it to make your own Collodion USP and if, how do you make it.

Thanks

Sigma-Aldrich produce a brand of collodion "Fluka" suitable for photography, it's about 5% or 6%. Here's their South African web site:

[www.sigmaaldrich.com]

Good luck with the process!

Seán

Seán
Thanks and thanks again. You really made my day :-).

If the costs are too high.....collodion, as we know it, can be easily made from cellulouse nitrate and ether and alcohol

link

I had no luck trying to find cellulose nitrate commecially. If you have a specific source Ray, I'd like to hear about it.

The only place I actually found it was Scholle Chemical in Georgia and they flat out will not sell it to us tintype schmoe's

Todd Harrington
Winchester, VA

www.collodianartistry.com

Used in making paint.

[www.alibaba.com]

I started looking into this after a bad batch of plain collodion this past fall. And yes I know its used for nitrocellulose lacquer. You also need just the right nitration for it to work in photographic collodion.

Thanks for the website but I have already been through all of those, Ray. Minimum 10 ton orders are typical not to mention importing duties, laws, etc. trying to buy from China. Hell, a 1000 grams is pretty much a lifetime supply.

I think I'm going to just make my own....

Todd Harrington
Winchester, VA

www.collodianartistry.com

I buy my nitrocellulose from a sympathetic varnish manufacturer in London so I think it's worth trying to find one in your part of the world.

Show and give them some tins and explain you want to buy it to make collodion for a photographic process.

When I first started out with the black fingered process eleven years ago I couldn't find a source of collodion in the UK so I made my own
following the instructions in the Silver Sunbeam.

My home made collodion worked well enough but it's not easy to make and it's a potentially dangerous business.

I made four rather variable small batches and was extremely pleased when I found a suitable Merck collodion, and even more pleased
to find my friendly varnish manufacturer.

I got my supply from Mark Osterman many years ago..and still have a lot left. Perhaps he knew someone who got the big 10 ton order....

It was amazingly cheap, and made collodion very well. Results were fine.

Thanks, Sean...trust me...you have no idea how I have searched for a "sympathetic varnish manufacturer" I will be using the sulphuric acid and potassium nitrate method. I nitrate my own black powder combusitble cartridge paper now so plenty of saltpetre on hand.

Ray..I already checked with Mark and France. That batch came as a one-time sample from Germany, as you said, many years ago. Yep...a little goes a long way

Will Dunniway did the same thing as Sean suggested with the sample tins, etc with Scholle several years ago. He managed to get them to sell him a 1000gram tin. No luck for me though.

Todd Harrington
Winchester, VA

www.collodianartistry.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2011 06:54PM by minieball.

Brian Scadden in New Zealand makes his from raw nitrocellulose if I remember correctly. Not sure where he gets it...

Does anyone have a recipe on hand for mixing up collodion with cellulose nitrate?

I just make a 2% solution with 50/50 ether/alcohol mix, then add my usual iodides and bromides.

This works fine and it's what I've used for over nine years now.

In reading through some of the stuff on the internet on this stuff..its amazing how close clear nail polish is to it.

I wonder if you could mix iodides and bromides with nail polish, and shoot with it??

Doesnt seem worth it to me Todd. Your bad plain collodion is the first I have heard of in 13 years. Have you had more than one bad batch?