Making a Daguerreotype
This article has all of the materials, links, and information to create a Dag (Daguerreotype) and will be updated frequently. I’ll outline the process of making a true Mercury daguerreotype (rather than the easier daguerreotype becquerel method.)
Mercury daguerreotypes are wonderful, gem-like photographic images.They are one of kinda and need to be experienced in person - as their shimmering between positive and negative, image and reflection can not be translate into a digital experience.
You can learn more about the history of the Daguerreotype here.
Notes on Safety
True Mercury Dags are dangerous to create. Please note that I take no responsibility for injury or death. This document and my YouTube video are for educational purposes only.
1 - Getting Your Plate
First off, you’ll need a silver coated copper plate to make your Daguerreotype. Typically there are two different kinds of places.
Electroplated Plates
Electroplated Dag plates have silver bonded to the copper. These plates typically have less silver… so it’s easier to rub through the layer of silver when you’re polishing. They tend to be less expensive.
Cold Roll Clad Plates
These plates are made by rolling silver over copper and pressing the two together. The resulting plates have a thicker layer of silver and can be more expensive.
Regardless of what kind of plate you want, you’ll need to get one. Here’s how:
Buy Your Daguerreotype Plates
There are two main sellers of Daguerreotype plates that I know of.
Mike Robinson of Century Darkroom sells Cold Roll Clad plates.
Soon I will be selling Electroplated Daguerreotype plates. You can Email me here to RSVP:
Make Your Own
If you want to make your own, here are the specifications to keep in mind:
Copper plate, about 16 guage.
Have at least 9 micrometers of silver plated on to it.
Make sure to plate “bright” and not “white.”
2 - Pre-buffing
So you have your plates. Now you’ll need to pre-buff them. Basically starting the polishing process. To do that you’ll need…
Materials Needed:
Cotton Flannel for polishing. You can get a big roll of this from Joann’s and cut it up. Our just buy something like this.
NuShine Grade S polishing material or 1800 grit aluminum oxide powder.
Pre-buffing method:
Moisten cotton pad with distilled water.
Add a bit of polishing powder.
Spread evenly on the plate.
Buff with your hand in a parallel and perpendicular (up and down, then left and right) orientation.
As you polish, apply less and less pressure.
Rinse with distilled water and dry with hair blower.
You can also take a plate that’s already been exposed by repeating the above steps 3 to 4 times.
3 - Buffing (Rouge)
With pre-bruffing done it’s time to get into our more fine buffing stage.
Materials needed:
Silk sock to fill with Rouge powder.
Rouge Polishing Method:
Tape your Daguerreotype plate to your surface with blue tape so it doesn’t move during polishing.
Fix a few sheets of cotton flannel onto the Orbital sander.
Slap on an even layer of Rouge powder onto the cotton, using a silk sock.
Start buffing your plate. Use a LOT of pressure.
Keep using pressure, and check the plate to see when it’s polished without any scratches.
Your goal with the rouge buffing is to remove vertical scratches from the pre-buffing.
After vertical marks remove, target all other minor imperfections with less pressure.
Needs to be perfect.
4 - Buffing (Lamp Black)
This is our final and most delicate phase of polishing. Contrast and blacks will be be affected by imperfections in this phase of polishing. Be highly detailed.
Materials needed:
Lamp Black. (It’s a super fine, carbon powder. Usually used as a pigment. In our case, a soft polisher.)
Silk sock to fill with Lamp Black.
A second Orbital sheet sander.
Lamp Black Polishing Method:
Do the same thing as the Rouge method, only use less pressure.
Keep checking the plate until the surface is perfectly mirrored.
When done, clean black and sides with air duster.
5 - Charging Sensitizing Boxes
We’ll start dealing with chemicals now. Our goal is to fill wooden boxes with dangerous chemical fumes (iodine and bromine) that will make our silver plate sensitive to light.
To do that, let’s prep our chemicals. We’ll need Iodine and Bromine.
Iodine Safety
Iodine comes in a crystal form, which you can buy here. It is relatively safe when kept inside the ampules. Be sure to use this material with a health respect: using a chemical fume hood, etc.
Bromine Safety
Bromine is particularly nasty. You need to keep Bromine inside PTFE contains like this. They will help protect the bromine fumes from escaping and corroding everything around it… but wont stop it entirely. Bromine fumes are highly toxic. Be very careful - use a proper chemical hood.
Charing the Boxes
Fill two glass half quart containers with Silica beads.
Add one tiny iodine crystal into one of the containers. The beads will absorb the iodine fumes and turn jet black.
Put the tip of a pipette into the Bromine and stick it into the second container with beads. (Less than 1ml of Bromine.) The beads will absorb the fumes and turn bright yellow.
Pour the charged beads into two sensitizing boxes (like these from Mike Robinson.)
Close the boxes (with the beads inside) and leave for 20 minutes. The fumes will fill and “charge” the boxes.
6 - Sensitizing the Plates
More details coming soon.