ffs in
order--Cleaning Buckskins--Reflector for taking Views.

To Color Back-grounds--To obtain a properly colored back ground is a
matter of no little importance to the Daguerreotype operator. I had
nearly exhausted all patience, and tried the skill of painters to
obtain a back-ground that would be suitable to my purpose; but all to
no avail. At last I adopted the following method, and at a cost of
coloring of twenty-five cents, can now produce a back-ground far more
valuable than those which had cost five dollars before.

Take common earth paint, such as is used in painting roofs; mix this
with water to about the consistency of cream; then to four quarts of
this mixture add about one pint of glue water (common glue dissolved in
water, also about as thick as cream). This last will cause the paint
to adhere to the cloth, to which it is applied with a common white-wash
brush. By applying the brush on the coating while it is wet, it may be
so blended that not a line can be seen, and a perfectly smooth color of
any shade can be obtained. The shade of color I use is a light
reddish-brown. Tripoli, rotten-stone, or any earthy matter, may be
applied in the same manner.

Transparent or Invisible Back-ground.--I give this as originally
published in my System of Photography, 1849:

"Take a large woollen blanket with long nap, the longer and rougher it
is the finer will be the effect produced; stretch it on a frame of
sufficient size, and suspend the frame at the centre of the upper end
by a string fastened to a nail in the ceiling, from three to five feet
back of the sitter. Having arranged this, fasten another string to the
side of the frame, and while the operation is going on in the camera,
swing the back-ground from right to left, continuing this during the
whole time of sitting, and you have a clear "transparent" back-ground,
which throws the image out in bold relief, and renders the surface of
the plate invisible. If equalled at all it is only by atmospheric
back-ground. I consider it to be the best ever known, and think it
needs but to be tried to afford satisfactory proof that it is so.
Although used by few before, since the first edition of this work at
least two thirds of the operators have adopted its use; for any one can
at once understand the principle and the effect which it produces."

It may be added that a motion imparted to to any back-ground where
softness is desired, produces an excellent effect