I've taken some time this month to read up on my darkroom-practices, and
to actually to through stuff in my closet inside my apartment, so that I
can use it to make a small darkroom there to make prints from my
negatives. I bought a worktable at IKEA and put it inside them room, and
it is just the right size to fit my enlarger and four medium-size trays of
developer, stop, fix and water. I have no running water inside the closet
of course, so I go out after each print and put it in the wash using the
water-tray. Then I get any print from the last rinse, and repeat that
process until I have no more room to hang prints, or until I have to go to
bed for the night.
The process is actually kind of soothing, and even if it is repetitive,
it's fun to experiment a bit and try using different negatives. I have
collected quite a few since I started shooting analogue a few years ago.
The process I use right now is something like this:
* Exposure for 5-15 seconds, depending on the negative.
* Develop in Eukobrom for 60 seconds * Stop in Ilfostop for 30 seconds
* Fix in Tetenal superfix for 60 seconds
After this, I rinse for a few minutes, and hang the prints to dry over
night. I've mostly used fiber-based papers up until now, but might
experiment with RC-stuff later on. Brands I've been using are Foma and
Kentmere.
I've found a lot of fun in tweaking this process, and just making nice
prints and learning as I'm going. Hopefully, I can produce some more
high-quality scans from them too.
