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RECREATION. 



grains; citric acid, 15 grains; gelatine, 2 

 drams (liquid). These, with 26 ounces dis- 

 tilled water, arc the ingredients. Cost, 

 about 15 cents, enough for some 40 plates. 



Heat the water and dissolve the gelatine 

 in 1*4 ounces of it. It is best done by 

 having a glass in a tin of water on the 

 stove, and at night by lamplight. If you 

 can't get liquid gelatin, a package of best 

 English dry gelatin will do. Dissolve 

 enough of it in the 1*4 ounces of water to 

 make it the consistency of thick cream. 

 Dissolve the alum, salts and ammonium 

 chlorate in 12 ounces of the remaining 

 water and add it to the dissolved gelatin. 

 Stir with a glass rod and it will turn to a 

 thick, glue-like and evil-smelling mass. 

 Dissolve the silver and citric acid in the 

 last 12 ounces of water; then add it to the 

 odoriferous jelly, and the whole will be- 

 come liquid again like milk. 



Have your plates perfectly clean and in 

 hot water. Take out a plate, flow with the 

 emulsion and lay in a dark and level place 

 to dry. If the emulsion be too thick, thin 

 it with hot water. When the plates are 

 dry they can be used any time. Flow on 

 the gelatin as thinly and evenly as possi- 

 ble. The printing is done by sunlight, 

 same as any silver paper. It is then toned 

 in gold bath and fixed as with paper. Re- 

 member to wash thoroughly. 



Francis Hope, Midland, Mich. 



three days before use after mending. Bi- 

 chromated gelatine is insoluble after ex- 

 posure to the action of light for some time. 



GOLD TONING BATH. 



Would like some advice regarding single 

 gold toning baths for solio and aristotype 

 papers. I have had difficulty in getting 

 mine to work. Sometimes it positively 

 refuses to tone. Perhaps I neutralize it 

 too much. I should also like to know of 

 a good acid and alkali proof cement for 

 mending hard rubber trays. 



M. B. Paine, Jr., Charleston, S. C. 



I referred these inquiries to an expert 

 photographer, who replies as follows: 



Mr. Paine probably does not eliminate 

 all the free silver from his prints before 

 trying to tone. Wash in a number of 

 changes of water first and then tone in 

 the following bath: 



Water, 16 ounces. 



Gold solution (1 grain to ounce), 1 

 ounce. 

 ^Bicarbonate of soda, 20 grains. 



Add 16 ounces water. 



Tone but a few at a time, and turn the 

 prints constantly. Use lukewarm water. 

 Cold will work slowly. 



To mend hard rubber trays, use boiling 

 water till soft, then bring the joints to- 

 gether. Some use a hot iron. Some 

 patch them with sheet rubber and rubber 

 dissolved in chloroform. Gelatine solu- 

 tion with a little bichromate of potash 

 .will mend anything if thoroughly sunned 



A CHEAP AND SIMPLE PICTURE FRAME. 



Wishing to frame a number of Recrea- 

 tion's full page illustrations, and not being 

 able to find frames that suited me, I tried 

 passe-partouting them. I can buy, in 

 art stores, a ready-gummed picture binder, 

 and find the work can be done quickly, 

 easily and neatly. The binding paper re- 

 ferred to is about an inch wide, and each 

 package contains 10 yards. It is put up 

 in different colors, costs but 10 cents a 

 box and is the only thing I have yet found 

 that will adhere satisfactorily to glass. I 

 use broken panes of glass and cut to size 

 desired with a 5-cent glass cutter. About 

 20 pictures that I mounted cost me less 

 than 50 cents. I cut the glass, picture and 

 cardboard backing all of the same size. 

 Then cut off strips of the gummed paper, 

 dampen, and lay them on the table before 

 me, gummed side up. Lay edge of glass 

 on edge of paper, so as to form such mar- 

 gin as I desire to have show on the front, 

 and press until the gum hardens.* I attach 

 similar strips to all 4 edges of the glass. 

 Then lay the picture and backing on glass, 

 redampen the extending edges of the bind- 

 er, draw them tightly over edges of glass 

 and stick them to the backing. Two cloth 

 loops for the picture cord, gummed to the 

 backing, finish the job. 



Al. Harris, South Superior, Wis. 



A GOOD SOCIETY. 



The World Wide Photo Exchange, I 

 think, deserves its name. It was organ- 

 ized Feb. 1, 1898, and has a member- 

 ship of almost 400. Nearly, if not 

 every state in the Union is represented, 

 and it has members in Jamaica, England, 

 New Zealand, Canada, and Mexico. 



The principal object of this society is to 

 afford its members facilities for the collec- 

 tion of photographic prints. To this end. 

 it sends monthly to each member a copy 

 of the list of members who have joined 

 during the month previous, together with 

 the names of their cameras, size of their 

 prints, and a general idea of the subjects 

 they have to exchange. 



Exchanges are made by mail, through 

 direct correspondence. The basis of ex- 

 change is generally one 4x5 unmounted 

 print. Another object of this society is 

 the mutual improvement of its members in 

 the art. Twenty-five cents is the fee for a 

 year's membership. 



A trial year will convince anyone that 

 the W. W. P. E. is the most beneficial or- 

 ganization of its kind. Send 25 cents to 

 F R. Archibald, Sec'y, Rock Creek, O. 



