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Glass Plate Negatives Discovered in Peoria

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Glass Plate Negatives Discovered in Peoria

Glass Plate Negatives Discovered in Peoria

Photography has changed quite a bit since its invention. While most images created today are stored digitally, early photographs were developed on glass plates. Glass is an incredibly durable material, but only a small number of glass plate negatives survive.

That’s part of what makes a discovery in Peoria so interesting. Workers from a salvage company that was removing architectural materials from an abandoned home in that city discovered a trove of glass plate negatives. The home was scheduled for demolition, and was in poor condition. The roof had failed on the home, leaving it filled with water and mold.

Among the abandoned property was a collection of more than 200 glass negatives that had somehow escaped the rain. The negatives were made between the late 1800’s and the 1930’s, in and around Peoria. Some of the negatives featured the home being demolished. Others included portraits, street scenes, vacation photographs and early Peoria landmarks.

Glass plate negatives are exceptionally fragile, and must be stored carefully to preserve the negative and to avoid damaging the emulsion. The Peoria negatives were removed from the home, and were purchased by a local collector. Some of the images were in poor condition and some of the glass plates were broken. The collector was able to restore the images and scanned them to preserve them.

Because of their fragility, it is unusual to find more than a few glass plate negatives at one time. Some libraries and newspapers maintain archival collections of glass plate negatives because newspapers commonly used glass plate photography into the mid-1930s.

A few specialty photographers still use glass plates because they provide significant tone and detail. The initial wet plate technique required the use of a substance called collodion, which was flammable. A wet-plate glass negative also had to be prepared immediately before the image was made, and required a five-minute exposure. The image also needed to be developed before the collodion dried. That limited the use of wet plate negatives to still images and portraits.

A refined, dry plate technique allowed photographers to prepare their negatives ahead of time, and process the negative when convenient. It also shortened the required exposure time.
Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator resolves many of the problems associated with printing on glass today. Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator prepares the glass surface in advance of UV-inkjet printing. The product allows UV inks to bond to glass, eliminating the need for heat curing, and enabling full-color, photorealistic printing on glass.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator, or Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: James Morley, via Flickr.com

Printed glass tiles and shower doors

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Printed glass tiles and shower doors

Printed glass tiles and shower doors

One of the newest decorating trends is the use of printed glass tiles and shower doors. Printing on glass allows photorealistic images to be deposited on glass surfaces. Unlike backpainted glass, where color or images are applied to the back side of transparent glass, glass printing takes place on the surface of the glass.

Printed glass offers residential, commercial options

UV inkjet printing offers some exciting options, not just for decorating but also for commercial applications. One of the challenges of printing on glass is that printed inks are typically not UV-resistant. When exposed to direct sunlight, the inks will fade. This makes using printed glass a challenge in both commercial and residential settings because it affects the longevity of the printed glass.

Glassprimer™ makes a specialty primer for UV-inkjet printing that extends to UV-inkjet printing the permanent bond that Glassprimer™ glass paint is famous for. With the Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator, inks can permanently bond to the glass surface, improving the longevity, durability and vibrancy of the finished product.

Image stability and durability means that you can decorate surfaces in your home or interior commercial space with printed glass. Printed glass tiles, shower doors and backsplashes will create an innovative and completely customized appearance, whether in the residential or commercial setting.

Printed glass in the commercial setting offers new opportunities to make branding impressions. Commercially, printed glass would work well in fitness facilities, restaurants, event venues and retail spaces. In addition to being eye-catching, printed glass is less expensive than other durable architectural materials and can be cleaned and sanitized easily. Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator works on any type of glass, so it could be used on ordinary plate glass, float glass or even rolled glass.

In a residential setting, printed glass opens new decorating possibilities by allowing the homeowner to incorporate photorealistic art and design in any space in the home. If you would like more information about Glassprimer™’s glass surface molecular activator, please visit our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Sprinz

MIT researchers demo 3-D glass printing

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MIT Researchers demo 3-D glass printing

Photo credit: Steven Keating, MIT

3-D printing has risen to the forefront of prototyping and rapid manufacturing, but glass hasn’t worked out very well as a printing medium. Some systems can use powdered glass with certain 3-D printing techniques, but the finished product isn’t transparent like glass. Researchers at MIT have changed that, however, by demonstrating a new 3-D printing technique that uses molten glass to “print” a 3-dimensional object, layer by layer.

Glass printing could have architectural applications

The molten glass must leave the printing nozzle at a temperature that exceeds 1,000° C. To make sure the glass remains hot enough to work, the researchers developed a printer with multi-stage heating coils that keep the glass properly heated at each point of the production process. Once the glass has exited the printing nozzle, the object is built in a heated chamber that maintains a temperature just above the point where glass solidifies. By keeping the glass heated after printing, the researchers can control the cooling process, which allows the printed piece to cool gradually without breaking.

The printing nozzle is made from aluminum oxide. It can withstand the high temperatures and discourage the molten glass from sticking to it during production. Currently the researchers are working with soda-lime glass formulations, but in theory, the process could also be used to create tempered glass items. For a tempered printing process to be successful, the printer would have to be able to work with glass heated to a much higher temperature.

The process could also be used to create architectural glass with specific properties, like light transmission. Traditional float glass has smooth interior features, which allow light and solar radiation to be transmitted easily. A 3-D printed piece of glass could have internal features that control the transmission and distribution of light more effectively.

Don’t expect 3-D glass printing to move to the production stage anytime soon, though. According to MIT researchers, they want to work with different production techniques, including the addition of pressure to the molten glass stream to better control the flow, and give more precision to the resulting printed glass object.

At Glassprimer™, we don’t print glass, but we do provide the perfect coating for glass. If you’d like more information about decorating with glass paint, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Glass printing options

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Glass printing options

Glass printing options

Traditional printing processes rely on liquid ink. The paper (or other media) absorbs the ink. Glass isn’t absorbent, so glass printing is a challenge. Traditional inks and paints don’t work well, leaving few viable options for printing on glass.

Glass printing techniques

Silk screening. The traditional, tested method of glass printing is silk screening. The technique creates an image that’s clearly visible from a distance. Close inspection reveals that the image is made from millions of tiny dots. Depending upon the size of the screen, silk screen printing can offer coverage off varying percentages. The standard screen provides 60% coverage.

Silk screen printing was invented more than 100 years ago, and involves placing ink on the surface of the glass through a mesh screen. Once the ink has been applied to the glass, the glass and ink are fired to allow the ink to adhere firmly to the glass. Images with multiple colors require a different screen for each color, and the glass must be fired each time a new color is added to the image. The process is time-consuming and is prone to registration and coloration errors.

A related technique is screen transfer printing, where the image is transferred from paper to the glass. As with silk screening, screen printed transfers must be fired once they’ve been applied to the glass in order to permanently bond the image to the glass, and multiple screens may be required to form a single image.

Digital ceramic ink printing. Digital ceramic ink is applied using a flatbed inkjet printer. The ink is precisely controlled and dries on contact with the glass. This allows the printer to eliminate unwanted color blending, and provide precise control over the thickness of individual paint droplets. Once the paint is applied, it’s fired to create permanent adhesion with the glass surface.

UV Inkjet glass printing. UV inkjet glass printing represented an evolution in glass printing techniques. An earlier glass printing technique bonded an image printed on a clear substrate to the glass. UV inkjet glass printing uses an inkjet printer to deposit UV-curable ink directly on glass. Prior to the application of ink, the glass surface is treated with a special primer, like Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator. Once the primer and ink have been applied, the ink is exposed to UV light and permanently bonded to the glass. A similar technique uses heat-curable inks that are baked after being applied to glass. The advantage of UV-curing is that it is virtually instant and does not require firing.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator, for use with UV-inkjet glass printing, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Mads Buddig, via FreeImages.com