# Ferrotype plate?



## mersu

I found 3 carton packages in a big trash can near my house. Each package has a chrome coloured plate about 30x40 cm in size, which has two holes punched into the corners of one long side.

The label on the carton folder reads:

Dia Ferro-Type Plate
hard chrome
kashimura co., ltd

I found out Kashimura is a company businessing in print & visuals, but what is a ferrotype plate and what is it used for?


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## mersu

..I'd like to add, that figuring by the style and font of the label, I think these plates date back to somewhere between 1950-1970.


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## terri

You mean, someone threw the _plates_ out too, or did you just find the empty boxes?

To answer, ferrotypes is a wet-plate darkroom process.   You can still do them today, I've never done one though.  I believe you simply coat the plate with liquid emulsion and expose it, develop it and fix in a regular darkroom.   I believe the plates are made of baked tin, but honestly I don't know details.  

It's one of those things considered an "alternative photographic process" that is really just an old-timey  darkroom process.   They can look beautiful.


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## Hertz van Rental

I always thought ferrotype plates were black. They have to be - you coat them with emulsion, expose and process giving a negative. The negative is bleached using mercury bichloride to give a white image. With the black background the image becomes reversed to appear positive.
Hard chrome plates would be too expensive and rather unsuitable for use as ferrotype (also known as tintype) plates - the whole point of the process was it was cheap and quick.
If the plates are polished chrome then I believe they are most likely to be glazing plates. These were polished plates that were used for giving a glass-like finish to photographic paper.
I seem to dimly recall them being called ferrotype plates (don't know why) - but I could be wrong as I can find no reference in my library. I'll keep looking, though.


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## terri

Yes, Hertz, I believe the "baked" part rendered the plates black....?   And you proceeded from there.  Also referred to as "wet plate collodion process" if that helps with the general search.  

A tiny bit of info that gives historical perspective:
http://www.collodion-artist.com/History/


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## Hertz van Rental

The historical info says they used thin steel sheet and japaned it black (enamel) and some beach photographers were still using the process into the 1960's. It would be pointless to chrome plate something if you were going to paint it.
I still think they are glazing plates...


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## ksmattfish

Hertz van Rental said:
			
		

> I still think they are glazing plates...



That's what it sounds like to me.  Not many places using them these days.  Somebody cleaned out the back supply closet.


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## AIRIC

I still have my dad's plates. I remember him calling them ferrotype. When I first started in the darkroom with him in the early 70s we would stick the washed prints to the polished chrome emulsion down and roller off the water and wait for them to dry and fall off. They would curl like hell. If I remember right he would put them in the pages of a phone book for a day to flatten them out. I have no idea if this was good or not but the prints still look great today.

Eric


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## Hertz van Rental

AIRIC said:
			
		

> I still have my dad's plates. I remember him calling them ferrotype.


I KNEW I hadn't imagined hearing them called that. Thanks Airic!


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## mersu

Thank you all for answers, at least I seem to be in the right place with my questions. 

-Yeah, the plates ARE inside the carton folder. They're bendy, so you can do 'mirror house tricks' with them. On the reverse side they're just some kind of uncoated metal, which has patches and spots on it perhaps due to becoming oxygenated (?)..

They are clearly unused and I was just wondering what I could use them for. I don't process pictures myself, so I guess I'll just figure a new use for them.


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## bcaka

These are used to press the wet photo paper to so that you can get glossy prints


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## KmH

Wow a thread from 2005!


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## Pgeobc

When I wuzza kid, I used Ferrotype tins to put a glossy finish on photographs. The older paper came without a high gloss on it and if you wanted high gloss, one had to place the wet emulsion side onto the shiny side of the tin, roll it on tightly with a roller/squeege, and let it dry. Commercial operations had electric print dryers with drums that were similarly finished. Once dried, the prints had a glossy finish--at least until they got wet again accidentally.


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## Lorena

Hello, I would like to confirm, the plates are for drying older photo print paper to achieve a glossy finish.  Because ferrotype does reference back to photographic process I am not sure if the term is correct.  I have several that were donated by older photographers.  I use mine to drag across contact sheets and it gives me instant pre-visualization of what a mirror image would look like.  For example I have a shot of a single gila monster in the Gelapagos, his background is a sand stone wall.  When I drag the tin mirror across, I see two exact monsters facing each other, however the stand stone in the background reveals the face of an aboriginal, or lionesque man. The tins are marvelous for this application because they are so thin they do not distort the center match up.  The fellow that had a box full, do you still have them?  Wanna sell them?  With this application they would be good for artists and photographers alike.  You could Google Jerry Uelsmann who was the master of mirror images before photoshop!


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## slackercruster

bcaka said:


> These are used to press the wet photo paper to so that you can get glossy prints



That is correct. Before we had resin F we had to make glossy with plates or drums. Dry too quick with heat and you would get clamshell cracks on the emulsion with drum dryers. 

All this stuff / info will be lost someday...maybe if lucky in some museum.


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## Lorena

Hello, I would like to confirm, the plates are for drying older photo  print paper to achieve a glossy finish.  Because ferrotype does  reference back to photographic process I am not sure if the term is  correct.  I have several that were donated by older photographers.  I  use mine to drag across contact sheets and it gives me instant  pre-visualization of what a mirror image would look like.  For example I  have a shot of a single gila monster in the Gelapagos, his background  is a sand stone wall.  When I drag the tin mirror across, I see two  exact monsters facing each other, however the stand stone in the  background reveals the face of an aboriginal, or lionesque man. The tins  are marvelous for this application because they are so thin they do not  distort the center match up.  The fellow that had a box full, do you  still have them?  Wanna sell them?  With this application they would be  good for artists and photographers alike.  You could Google Jerry  Uelsmann who was the master of mirror images before photoshop! Do you still have them?  I don't have much money but I would like to buy them and then to offer them to artists and photographers as they are a fantastic art aide as I have explained.  I have the connections that could get them to artists rather then let them oxidize in a closet or ultimately end up in a land fill because no one knows what to do with them.  Resin Coated papers have eliminated the need for them in printmaking and digital has made print making nearly obsolete.


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## RacePhoto

slackercruster said:


> bcaka said:
> 
> 
> 
> These are used to press the wet photo paper to so that you can get glossy prints
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is correct. Before we had resin F we had to make glossy with plates or drums. Dry too quick with heat and you would get clamshell cracks on the emulsion with drum dryers.
> 
> All this stuff / info will be lost someday...maybe if lucky in some museum.
Click to expand...


Oh wow, this makes me an antique officially. Resin coated paper probably came out in the late 70s. I still have my plates and print dryers. If I get out an old enlarger and some old paper, I'd still need to use them.

You put the wet print on them face down, squeegee out the water to make sure there's a good contact, and wait until they pop off, naturally. If you peel them, it creates lines and cracks. Also the pressure curtain was stretched on the dryer models, with curved plates. Turn the heater on and wait. (not as slow and air drying) 

The idea is a perfectly clean, mirror surface, makes a perfect shiny print. Any tiny scratch will ruin the plate. Any dirt will show up as surface dull spots on the prints.

I never thought of using them for collodion positive prints. They are just packed in storage with the trays, drums, developing reels and stuff that's in the archives. Hey I can open a museum room at home?


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## Lasserman

I remember using a similar one,  but that was in the 60s. 

I just scored a double sided *HANSA Glossy Print Dryer* in great shape but, but,  _AWWW!!! HOT DANG! _ the plates were not with it.
Does anyone know where I can start looking?


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