#5154 - When Ambrotypes start Flaking Away...
If one collects enough Civil War period images, you will no doubt get some "ambrotypes" as well. In that method of preserving images, the emulsion was set and developed directly on a glass plate rather than tin or the later papers. However, the visual image is reversed, so that a backdrop of black colored material is required behind the glass plate to show the image to our eyes. In the Civil War period, a thick syrupy black colloid was painted onto the opposite side (back) of the glass plate. Thus, the image was on one side, while the black paint was put on the other. Over the years, that black paint lifts and flakes away, leaving irregular visual "holes" in the image that we see. And yet, the true emulsion or picture is really still fully intact on the otherside of the plate! By replacing the black paint or filling-in just the flaked off areas, the image appears to be fully intact again! Using a black gloss "model paint" works the best. And yet, it does not damage or alter the original Civil War image (emulsion) on the other side of the plate. Our "new" paint backdrop could easily be scraped off of the glass in the future if one ever wished to use the exact same black colloid-syrup as during the Civil War for some reason.
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