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Old 21st July 2021, 07:11 AM
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CambsIan CambsIan is offline
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Default Glass Plates

Hi, everyone, been a while since I asked a dumb question, so I thought I would ask one.

I have just been given some glass plates by a friend which were taken of her by her father some 60+ years ago, they look in pretty good condition, but could do with a clean.

So here's the dumb question, how do you clean glass plates and what do you use to do it ?

Also having never used glass plates, when you contact print them is it glass side up or glass side down ?

Thank you

Ian
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Old 21st July 2021, 08:14 AM
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Hi Ian, I'm no expert but I would treat them like film and only use water to clean and then followed by a dip in a wetting agent dilution.

As for contact printing, I always put the emulsion side of film against the paper to be printed on.
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Old 21st July 2021, 09:58 AM
John King John King is offline
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Default Glass plates

They were still being exhibited in my photographic Society when I started out and the tones when projected were the fines you have ever seen. I am assuming 3.25 square plates or are they bigger.

Cleaning them - very carefully in water no more than 20c with a small drop of wetting agent. When I say 'clean' I mean let them soak for around 5 mins, let them drip and soak them again. Do not rub the emulsion side as it will be very soft and easily drop off the glass. I really mean DROP OFF! A hardening fixer was very rarely used.

Obviously handle by the edges only and stack them up individually in a cool dry draft free place overnight.
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Old 21st July 2021, 10:31 AM
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Uwe Pilz Uwe Pilz is offline
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Please use the least important plate first for experiments. I recommend to let the emulsion side as it is: No wetting, no soaking, no rubbing.

You may clean the glass side carefully.
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Old 21st July 2021, 11:02 AM
Collas Collas is online now
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These articles may be of use but I'd look into the subject a little further before commencing any cleaning activities.

https://www.canada.ca/en/conservatio...ass-plate.html

https://vintagenegatives.wordpress.com/glass-negatives/
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Old 21st July 2021, 11:56 AM
Molli Molli is offline
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I'm with Mr. Pilz. Only clean the glass side. Getting the emulsion side wet can lead to it lifting away from the glass and either coming away completely and breaking off or drying with frilling.
I used a cotton wool bud and water with a drop of Photo-Flo to clean mine (whole plates, circa 1890 - 1940, and quarter plates circa 1920)
The ONLY plate I had problems with already had a bit of emulsion separation and I inadvertently got it wet. On the plus side, I managed to unfold that bit and spread it back into position. On the downside, that strip is now quite brittle which made contact printing it a far more delicate operation than it otherwise would have been.

At any rate, enjoy the resulting prints - they come up beautifully with very little effort. Best viewed in person ☺
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Old 21st July 2021, 11:58 AM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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It's interesting that the first link does not recommend any type of liquid to clean the glass plates:

Minimal Cleaning

Unlike other types of photographs, neither type of glass plate can be treated in aqueous solutions for refixing, rewashing, or removing chemical stains in the images.

The second link only recommends cleaning the glass side. It doesn't mention making darkroom prints from the glass plates, giving details about scanning only, where they say to scan emulsion side upwards, the opposite to darkroom contact prints, which as already mentioned should be emulsion to emulsion:

Cleaning Glass Negatives

Our achievers professionally clean glass plate negatives, first using a hand held bulb duster or air blower to remove any small particles of dust, then using a small amount of distilled water onto glass cleaning cloth. Please note: this is only done to the non-exposed side of the glass plate as any cleaning process to the exposed side could result in damaging the image.

Scanning Glass Negatives

We advise scanning emulsion side up so that your image appears in the correct orientation and black and white negatives are scanned using colour settings in RGB to hold more digital information.

Good luck with it all.

Terry S
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Old 21st July 2021, 02:33 PM
Nat Polton Nat Polton is offline
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Going astray a bit, but on similar lines, I put a Red filter glass from a Kodak Beehive Safelight into a dish of soapy water to soak some chemical stains off the surfaces. (ebay purchase) I thought it was a solid piece of red glass. After leaving for ten minutes I lifted it out of the water and it separated into two thin glass discs with a gooey red dye in the middle.
I won't make that mistake again.


Cheers.
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Old 21st July 2021, 08:11 PM
Michael Michael is offline
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The Getty Conservation Institute's Photographs of the past (no link, sorry, it's a book) makes absolutely no reference to "cleaning" in its chapter on the various types of negatives on glass.

One of Nick's links contains the observation that glass plates often print far better than you'ld think they would.
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Old 22nd July 2021, 09:56 AM
Nat Polton Nat Polton is offline
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https://archive.org/details/conservationofph00eato

A link to a Kodak Publication.
Conservation of Photographs.

There is a small entry on page 134.

To use the site you need to enter your email address and make up a password for the library.
You can then "borrow" books for an hour or days.
There are no charges for using the site.
I have used it for a few years now. Not just photography but everything.

Cheers.
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