Meg Turner

Printmaker and photographer working out of New Orleans, Louisiana. Her practice spans prints, photography, and installation projects that respond to the landscape and the community she is part of.

In addition to her own work and contract printing, Meg serves as the master printer for local photogravure and wet collodion artist Josephine Sacabo. She founded the New Orleans Community Printshop and has since stepped back from a leadership position to focus on her studio practice.

She shoots primarily with a 4×5 Crown Graphic press camera, working in film and wet collodion.

A circular portrait embedded in a dramatic magenta-to-indigo gradient field, with deep black edges framing the composition

Mixing Your Own Collodion: A Practical Recipe

Wet-plate collodion is more than a shiny varnish: it is the fragile film that carries a light-sensitive silver image on glass. Mixing your own collodion gives you control over body, flow and drying time, which matters when a plate must be coated, exposed and developed without drying. The reward is a working photographic process rather than a decorative shortcut.

This recipe offers a small-batch starting point for negative wet-plate work. Historical formulas vary, and additives intended for positive collodion or tinting can change the result. Treat every measurement as a documented experiment, work slowly, and follow the safety data sheet supplied with each chemical.

Understand what the formula is doing

Colloidon cotton, also called pyroxylin, is a specially treated nitrocellulose. It is not ordinary cotton wool and should not be confused with ready-made cellulose lacquer. Ether and alcohol dissolve the cotton and control evaporation; acids condition the film and affect how it interacts with the silver sensitiser used later on the plate.

A workable negative-collodion mixture needs several properties at once. It should coat smoothly, remain slightly tacky while the plate is exposed, and develop evenly without lifting. It should also be thin enough to avoid bubbles but not so fluid that it runs off the glass during handling.

The exact balance depends on the cotton, intended silver-bath chemistry and local humidity. This distinction between binder and image-forming chemistry is central to New Orleans-based Meg Turner’s practice, where wet collodion, film and traditional darkroom processes inform both the photographic image and the objects built around it.

Build a safe workspace under Australian rules

Do not mix collodion on a domestic kitchen bench, near a hotplate or beside an open window. Work in a designated chemical area with effective ventilation, no ignition sources, suitable gloves, chemical splash goggles and an appropriate fire extinguisher. Ether vapour is heavier than air and can travel across a work surface to a distant spark. Whether your studio is in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or a regional town, ventilation matters just as much as the recipe.

Australian work health and safety obligations require you to consult safety data sheets, identify hazards and maintain safe storage. SafeWork NSW and WorkSafe Victoria provide state-specific guidance, while other states have equivalent regulators. Dangerous substances must also meet the classification, labelling and packaging rules adopted in your state; decant the collodion into a properly labelled, solvent-resistant container.

Ether and nitric acid can attract poisons, dangerous-goods and transport restrictions. Use a specialist chemical supplier, ask for Australian-compliant documentation and check the current poisons standard before ordering. Do not assume an overseas chemistry kit will clear postal or courier rules. Likewise, never leave either chemical in a car boot during an Australian summer, where heat can accelerate leakage and pressure build-up.

Gather ingredients and prepare equipment

For approximately 500 millilitres of negative collodion, measure the following into clean, dry equipment. The formula is a starting ratio rather than a substitute for testing with your particular cotton and plate chemistry.

Liquid formula

The acids condition the film for negative wet-plate work. Historic formulations differ in concentration, so record the acid percentage and manufacturer when weighing out a batch. Obtain dilute nitric acid from a reputable supplier rather than improvising a concentration with water near your mixing equipment.

Essential equipment

Reserve a small quantity of the ether–ethanol blend in a stoppered vessel. It will let you adjust viscosity without contaminating the main batch with extra water. Keep a dedicated tray beneath the glassware, because a chipped or dropped vessel is more likely than a careful pour to put solvent where it does not belong.

Mix, condition and filter the collodion

Begin with the cotton and alcohol in the amber bottle. Add enough of the measured ethanol to wet the cotton completely, then stir into a smooth paste. This gives the fibres time to disperse and reduces the clumps that can remain when dry cotton is poured directly into ether.

Add the ether gradually while swirling the bottle. Keep the container away from flames, batteries and hot equipment, and work where solvent vapour can escape safely. Continue until the cotton has disappeared; a clear amber solution may take anywhere from several minutes to an hour, depending on the grade and how tightly the fibres were packed. Do not use the mixture while white fibres or gelatinous lumps remain.

Once the solution is clear, add the dilute nitric acid in small portions with gentle stirring. Follow with the glacial acetic acid. The mixture can become slightly warm, so work in a cool area and pause if it heats or fumes more strongly than expected. Do not seal a warm bottle, and never add water to the collodion to correct its appearance.

Let the finished mixture stand in a safe, ventilated chemical area for 12–24 hours. Decant it from any sediment through a fine solvent-compatible filter into a clean amber bottle. Label it with the date, formula and intended use. If the coating forms long strings or gummy ridges, thin it slowly with the reserved 1:1 ether–ethanol mixture and test again.

Test, store and print with confidence

Pour a small amount onto a clean glass test plate and tilt it across the surface. A useful negative collodion should flow in a controlled sheet, settle into a glossy transparent layer and remain slightly tacky rather than appearing dry and powdery. If it runs like water, use it for a practice plate rather than a valued exposure; if it gathers at the edge, add a few millilitres of solvent blend and retest.

Remember that collodion does not create the photograph by itself. The plate also requires a wet-plate silver sensitiser, a compatible developer and fixer, each used according to its own instructions. Keep those chemicals separate from the collodion bottle, and complete coating, sensitising, exposure and development in the sequence recommended for your chosen chemistry.

Store the collodion in a cool, dark, approved flammable-liquid cabinet, away from heat, sunlight, oxidisers and open flames. A standard domestic refrigerator is not suitable chemical storage. Date every bottle, test older mixtures before a planned session, and take unused collodion and washings to a council hazardous-waste facility or licensed waste contractor rather than pouring them down a sink.

Start with one measured test batch and one small glass plate. Once the coating behaves consistently, scale up with confidence. Artists who want the casting, exposure and printing handled professionally can contact Meg through the site to discuss contract printing, while those drawn to shared practice can enquire about community printshop opportunities and begin with a notebook, clean glass and a willingness to experiment carefully.