Darkroom Project

[ann]

looks like your up and ready to go,

have fun

 

[John Mc]

Close,unfortuantly,my bursary never came through on time,so im still to purchase my dishes,tongs and chemical bottles,i'll stick a couple of my first prints up from my darkroom towards the end of next week,and you's can judge my home-work then

 

[ann]

there are all sorts of options for trays, and bottles, and at the risk of starting a real war tongs may or may not be critical. I have been doing darkroom work for over 60 years, no tongs, no issues, other than i have hard to finger print.
However, there are those who use them so just be sure if you do to mark them so they don't get placed in the wrong chemisty.

 

[John Mc]

Im just going to get a cheap set of bambo ones,i was considering just going without as the ones i use in college have scratched the image a few times,however there steel ones. so i shall see how they respond to me

 

[maris]

Im just going to get a cheap set of bambo ones,i was considering just going without as the ones i use in college have scratched the image a few times,however there steel ones. so i shall see how they respond to me

Bamboo tongs with rubber tips are very effective. I use two with different colours for every darkroom session. One goes only into the developer, the other only touches stop-bath and fixer and I never interchange the two. That way there is no adverse contamination of the processing solutions or tong-marks or stains on the photographs.

Nearly fifty years ago I decided to become a "tong expert" and avoid all skin contact with processing solutions; this mainly to avoid causing finger marks on expensive gelatin-silver paper. Remember, even the faintest trace of fixer on a finger tip will cause permanent white marks on the photograph and it will go in the trash. And having to wash your hands a hundred times during a darkroom session sure slows you down.

Practice makes perfect (or near to it) and these days I reckon I could do a day in the darkroom while wearing a white dinner suit and not get a spot. It is a clean and pleasant way to work. Sure, I've watched people make photographs while elbow-deep in processing solutions and they get by but I'm not that tough.

 

[John Mc]

the main reason i was looking at the bambo tongs is because the steel ones are too expensive per pair.granted,there steel,but i found that when i use them in college,they can often scratch my print,which has frustrated me to picking up the print with finger tips around the boarder.plus,ive noticed the bambo versions have a wider gripping point,so wont be a pain when gripping prints,well,i think