[HOW TO MAKE A PHOTOGRAPH INSIDE A BOTTLE.]
Get a glass-blower to make an ordinary shaped wine-bottle of very thin and clear glass, and clean it well. Next take the white of two eggs and add to it 29 grains of ammonium chloride dissolved in 1 drachm of spirits of wine, and one-half ounce of water. Beat this mixture into a thick froth and then allow it to stand and settle. Filter through a tuft of cotton-wool, and pour into the specially made bottle. By twisting the bottle round, an even layer of the solution will deposit itself on the sides. Pour off the remaining solution, allow the film in the bottle to dry, and again repeat the operation.
The next operation is to sensitize the film with a solution of nitrate of silver, 40 grains to 1 ounce of water. Pour this in and turn the bottle round for a few minutes, then pour off the superfluous solution and again dry. Hold the neck of the bottle for a few seconds over another bottle containing ammonia, so as to allow the fumes to enter it. Printing is the next operation; this is accomplished by tying a film negative round the bottle, and covering up all the other parts from the light. Print very deeply, keeping the bottle turning round all the time. Toning, fixing, and washing can be done in the ordinary way by filling the bottle up with the different solutions. The effect is very curious, and can be improved by coating the inside of the bottle with white enamel.
[PHOTOGRAPHS IN ANY COLOR.]
These can be produced by what is known as the powder or dusting-on process. The principle of the process is this: An organic, tacky substance is sensitized with potassium bichromate, and exposed under a reversed positive to the action of light. All the parts acted upon become hard, the stickiness disappearing according to the strength of the light action, while those parts protected by the darker parts of the positive retain their adhesiveness. If a colored powder be dusted over, it will be understood that it will adhere to the sticky parts only, forming a complete reproduction of the positive printed form. Prepare—Dextrine, one-half ounce; grape sugar, one-half ounce; bichromate of potash, one-half ounce; water, one-half pint: or saturated solution bichromate of ammonia, 5 drachms; honey, 3 drachms; albumen, 3 drachms; distilled water, 20 to 30 drachms.
Filter, and coat clean glass plates with this solution, and dry with a gentle heat over a spirit lamp. While still warm the plate is exposed under a positive transparency for from two to five minutes in sunlight, or from ten to twenty minutes in diffused light. On removing from the printing frame, the plate is laid for a few minutes in the dark in a damp place to absorb a little moisture. The next process is the dusting on. For a black image Siberian graphite is used, spread over with a soft flat brush. Any colored powder can be used, giving images in different colors. When fully developed the excess of powder is dusted off and the film coated with collodion. It is then well washed to remove the bichromate salt. The film can, if desired, be detached and transferred to ivory, wood, or any other support.
If a black support be used, a ferrotype plate on Japanned wood, for instance, pictures can be made from a negative, but in this case a light colored powder must be used. The Japanese have lately succeeded in making some very beautiful pictures in this manner. Wood is coated over with that black enamel for which they are so famous, and pictures made upon it in this manner. They use a gold or silver powder.
With this process an almost endless variety of effects can be obtained. For instance, luminous powder can be employed and an image produced which is visible in the dark.
Some time ago we suggested a plan of making what might be termed "post-mortem" photographs of cremated friends and relations. A plate is prepared from a negative of the dead person in the manner described, and the ashes dusted over. They will adhere to the parts unexposed to light, and a portrait is obtained composed entirely of the person it represents, or rather what is left of him. The idea is not particularly a brilliant one, nor do we desire to claim any credit for it, but we give it here for the benefit of those morbid individuals who delight in sensationalism, and who purchase and treasure up pieces of the rope used by the hangman.