I've been slowly gathering the supplies that I need to make ambrotypes. I have a nice little view camera but had to modify this 4x5 back to fit the glass plates. It's harder than you think.
I pulled both dark slides out and then marked up lines for making a hole in the septum. I had to drill the holes on the corners there so I had a place to get the coping saw started. The middle hole was just a test hole to see how hard it was to drill.
We used some clamps to hold it to a piece of wood to make the sawing easier. You can see that it isn't cut very straight. We used a file to smooth the metal edges.
These holes are for the silver wire that will hold the glass plate in place. It was impossible to find sterling silver wire locally and I ended up with some super thin stuff that didn't work. I've got to order some thicker gauge wire to make my corners here.
I pulled both dark slides out and then marked up lines for making a hole in the septum. I had to drill the holes on the corners there so I had a place to get the coping saw started. The middle hole was just a test hole to see how hard it was to drill.
We used some clamps to hold it to a piece of wood to make the sawing easier. You can see that it isn't cut very straight. We used a file to smooth the metal edges.
These holes are for the silver wire that will hold the glass plate in place. It was impossible to find sterling silver wire locally and I ended up with some super thin stuff that didn't work. I've got to order some thicker gauge wire to make my corners here.
