Wet plate collodion tintypes and ambrotypes have a unique aesthetic, sometimes moody, dark, dreamlike, rough around the edges, perfectly imperfect, a historic heirloom physical thing made by hand to be held and exhibited. “Artifacts” can form on the plate edges due to flawed technique or random unpredictability. Each individual tintype or ambrotype plate is unrepeatable, having it’s own unique character. Seeing the plate come up in the fixer and appear to reverse from a negative to a positive image is often described as magic. It’s actually a chemical reaction… but it looks and feels like magic!