I have succeeded much better when I conveyed all my apparatus to the house of the deceased, except the cleaning blocks. I therefore have a portable one arranged so as to place the whole in a box or basket, which includes the camera and stand, coating boxes, mercury bah and buff. I clean several plates, say eight or ten, and buff them ready for coating, and place them in a plate box well cleaned, and free from dust, covering over the plates with a piece of tissue paper, and then putting the cover of the box tightly over the whole. Cover the box also with black cloth. The plates should be retouched with the buff slightly before coating, to be absolutely sure that all the dust is removed from the surface.
Many operators coat their plates before leaving their rooms, and succeed in producing portraits.
I have therefore always avoided them whenever I coated the plates at the house of the deceased. A small closet room can easily be found in the house, and if not, by closing the blinds, a corner of the room will suffice. A north light is the best exposure of course. But when that cannot be procured, take any window with a fair exposure, free from the direct rays of the sun. If the portrait of an infant is to be taken, it may be placed in the mother's lap, and taken in the usual manner by a side light representing sleep.