As mentioned in a previous post varnishing a plate and narrating at the same time didn’t quite work for me so I’ve cut together a wee video with text to explain the steps involved with varnishing a plate. I hope it makes sense!

[vimeo video_id=”37948819″ width=”672″ height=”378″ title=”Yes” byline=”No” portrait=”No” autoplay=”No” loop=”No” color=”ffffff”]

The varnish is made by grinding down gum sandarac, a resin from avar or sandarac trees, and mixing this with 190 proof alcohol. It becomes really thick and gloopy so it needs to be thoroughly mixed and filtered until it’s clear and free from any particles or bits of tree which tend to be in the gum. After that you add pure lavender oil, mix and filter again and you’re good to go. It smells really good.

Whilst making this clip I made a fresh batch of varnish and have just tested it and it completely stripped the collodion from the plate. Thankfully one of my many rejects but I’ve now got varnish fear.

A good friend, John Brewer, reckons that the collodion on the plates might have been too old, or that the plate wasn’t hot enough to evaporate the alcohol on contact. I think it must have been the collodion as the plate was really hot. So how old is too old for collodion……..HELP!!