Collodion printing-out prints are based on the light sensitivity of silver chloride, which is suspended in a collodion binder on a baryta paper support. The paper is made by dissolving collodion in alcohol and ether. The collodion is then “salted;” a solution containing chloride as well as citric acid (a preservative) is added to the collodion solution. Finally a solution containing silver nitrate is added to the collodion chloride solution rendering the substance light sensitive. Sometimes glycerine or castor oil was added as a plasticizer to make the binder more flexible and permeable. Collodion printing-out papers could be hand-coated by the practitioner; many recipes were available in the various photographic journals and publications. Papers were coated in much the same way as collodion glass plate negatives by pouring the sensitized binder into the center of the paper and rocking it in each direction to get an even coating. Hand-coated papers were also available for sale by various photographic paper manufacturers. Papers were produced on a larger scale beginning in 1889 with the introduction of coating machines.
  

Printing-out papers were contact printed under ultra-violet (sun) light. The print was then washed, gold toned with a gold chloride solution, washed again, placed in a stop bath to stop the toning action and to preserve the whites, fixed with “hypo” (sodium thiosulfate), washed again, and dried. Prints were usually placed in a hardening bath of alum and “hypo” between the toning and fixing baths. Prints were then usually trimmed and mounted.

Collodion was initially used as a binder for photographic negatives beginning in 1851. Experiments in collodion binders on paper began in the early 1850s into the early 1860s, but the process had several problems including poor keeping after sensitizing and poor adherence of the collodion to the paper. With the introduction of baryta paper and the addition of citric acid to the collodion, these obstacles were overcome and the first papers were made by G. Wharton Simpson in 1865. The first commercial collodion printing-out paper, called Leptographic paper, became available in Madrid and Paris in 1866. Popularity of these papers rose in the 1880s and began to decrease in popularity in the 1890s. They were gradually replaced by gelatin printing-out papers and developing-out papers. Collodion printing-out papers were manufactured by the Aristotype Company (NY) until the late 1910s and until the late 1930s in Germany.