82 



RECREATION. 



sary; then throw away the albumen. Set 

 the coated plates to dry in a room where 

 no dust is flying. When dry wet the prints 

 and squeegee them on to the albumenizec 

 glass. They will stick tightly. The al- 

 bumen is so thin that the glass, when 

 dry, has not efen the appearance of being 

 COated at all. It is just as transparent as 

 before coating. 



The second method is to make a clear 

 solution of best white shellac in alcohol. 

 It must be no stiffer than molasses in 

 summer, and need not be quite that thick. 

 Paint this on the print or the glass and 

 apply the print. Or the glass may be 

 painted with shellac and when dry the 

 print laid on it in exact position and 

 then ironed with a flatiron at the usual 

 ironing temperature, which will melt the 

 shellac enough to cause adhesion. 



As a rule, gelatine prints stick to glass 

 when properly squeegeed without any 

 further preparation, especially if one is 

 using the glass merely to polish the prints 

 and expects to pull them off when dry. — 

 Editor. 



COMMENDS THE WAGER SCALE. 



Will some of your readers tell me what 

 success they have had with the Wager 

 exposure scale. The price is low, of 

 course, but I want to get the best. 



C. C, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Here is an answer that has just come to 

 hand: 



A short time ago I bought a Wager ex- 

 posure scale, which I have found abso- 

 lutely accurate and the best thing of its 

 kind in existence. The first thing I did 

 was to test my shutter, to see if it gave 

 the exposure it was marked for. I pro- 

 ceeded as follows: I first drew an arc of 

 a circle about 7 inches long, with a radius 

 of g}i inches. On this arc I marked 25 

 equal divisions of about % inch each. 

 Then I drove a nail in the wall and fas- 

 tened a dark colored piece of string to it, 

 with a bullet at the other end. From the 

 weight to the nail was just 9^ inches. 

 Then I fastened the marked piece of paper 

 to the wall, so the weight swung in 

 front of it. I focused the camera on the 

 scale, drew the slide, set the shutter, and 

 set the weight swinging at such a rate 

 that it more than covered the marked por- 

 tion at every swing. After a while the 

 string just covered the last mark and I 

 then exposed. If, when the plate was de- 

 veloped, I found that it had passed over 

 just one of the divisions, I knew my shut- 

 ter was 1-50 of a second speed. H 2 divi- 

 sions were passed over by the string then 

 the speed -was i-25th of a second, while 

 if the whole 25 divisions were passed over 

 the speed jyas l A of a second. The 



marked arc should be placed exactly cen- 

 tral with the string when the string is at 

 rest. The principle of the contrivance 

 lies in the fact that a pendulum 9^ inches 

 long will swing each way in just y 2 sec- 

 ond, and the same scheme can be worked 

 in taking photographs with one y 2 second 

 and up exposure. For instance, if you 

 wanted to give 3 seconds, you would let 

 it swing 6 times; 2^ seconds, 5 times, 

 etc. 



Test your shutters, brother amateurs, 

 and then get a Wager scale, and you 

 won't lose one plate out of a hundred. 

 T. E., New York City. 



SOME PERTINENT PARAGRAPHS. 

 To keep a retouching pencil sharp take 

 a strip of emery paper 10 inches long and 

 2 inches wide, double it together and tack 

 the ends to a convenient place on the ta- 

 ble. The pencil is simply worked in and 

 out, turning it slightly all the time, while 

 pressing outside the paper with the thumb 

 and forefinger. 



Before putting negatives to dry they 

 should always be held a few moments 

 under the tap and the film gently rubbed 

 with the finger or with a tuft of cotton 

 wool, to remove the surface deposit al- 

 ways more or less present. 



— Photography. 



In reply to J. W., Akron, Ohio, I have 

 been using dry plates in my Eastman 

 folding pocket kodak. No. 1, for some time 

 past, with the best of results. Have used 

 4x5 plates cut in 2, making 2 plates 

 2^2 x 4. This arrangement, however, ne- 

 cessitates a trip to the dark room or its 

 equivalent between 2 exposures. 



W. A. Hyde, North Haven, Conn. 



Pave you the best possible outfit ready 

 for your summer photographic work? 

 Such an outfit is expensive. Why not get a 

 high grade camera for nothing except a few 

 hours' work? By sending me only 5 yearly 

 subscriptions at $1 each, you can earn for 

 yourself a Wizard camera listing at $10. 

 It is the equal of any camera made at the 

 price, and by getting one in this way you 

 will have $10 ahead for buying other- sup- 

 plies. 



Are you saving your photo prints r -If 

 not, begin at once. Send me 2 yearly sub- 

 scriptions to Recreation, at $1 each, and I 

 will send you a Buechner album that will 

 hold 100 4x5 prints. It will be of great 

 value to you 'in showing the progress you 

 make in your photography, from the first 

 page to the last, and your prints will al- 

 ways recall interesting memories. 



