CLEANING THE PLATE.
Fig. 1.
The glass plate is first to be thoroughly washed with an abundance of water, and dried on clean cloths; it is then to be placed in the plate holder ([Fig. 1]), and have poured over its upper side a small quantity of old Collodion. Now take a tuft of cotton wool and rub the Collodion all over the plate, giving the hand a circular motion at the time: keep rubbing until the Collodion is very nearly dry, then turn the plate in the holder and repeat the same treatment with the opposite side; then lean the plate thus treated against a wall, while another, or any number are put through this stage. When a sufficient number have been so far cleaned, the plate holder is to be carefully wiped, and the first plate—the edges of which have also been carefully wiped with a clean cloth—is to be replaced, and treated with a smart rubbing with a wash leather, the operator at intervals gently breathing on the plate. Both sides of the plate being cleaned in this way, it may be removed, after again wiping the edges carefully, to the plate box, to await the subsequent steps of the process. Plates cleaned in this manner should look perfectly transparent, and free from any marks of the cloth or leather, and when breathed upon should condense the moisture of the breath in one uniform degree over the whole surface. If patches of uneven condensation appear, a repetition of the process must be had recourse to.
The plate being clean, we proceed to the next step,