darkclassical
12th August 2009, 02:53 AM
After many months away from safelight in the darkroom. I'm pleased to say that I'm able to print once again with little side effects so far. This comes after considerable hours researching ways to the "healthiest" chemistry possible.
I'm saying "so far" because I remain very cautious and careful after all of my physical allergies/reactions last fall; therefore, my current tests are spread out over many days and short - one variable at a time.
Printing with XTOL? Why? It is the least toxic developer that's readily available. I'm just going to pretend that it is not a film developer. :-) Development times are 2-3 times that of the norm with a 1+1 mix, but I really don't mind waiting 3 or 4 minutes! I have not tried stock XTOL yet. I'll save that for future FB paper tests. I will also try Silvergrain's Tektol print developer because the MSDS looks even better than XTOL. Yes, I do feel like a human lab rat!
To further eliminate harmful chemistry to me, I found a supply of sodium thiosulfate (97% tech grade) at $5 per Kg. Using a mix of 100g/litre, I see no difference in the clearing time of Delta 400 or Delta 3200 films compared to a rapid fixer of ammonium thiosulfate with other lovely ingredients. I'm fixing the RC paper in this for about 2 minutes. No acid stop baths anymore - just tap water.
In any case, I'm hoping these ingredients will allow me to print again, even if only for limited times with select negatives. It all makes me reflect on how much I had taken for granted in the art of photography.
My thanks to the many people here on FADU for their encouragement, suggestions and ideas to help point me in the direction to start solving this bio chemistry problem.
cheers
Bruce
p.s. I just uploaded an example of this process to my album
I'm saying "so far" because I remain very cautious and careful after all of my physical allergies/reactions last fall; therefore, my current tests are spread out over many days and short - one variable at a time.
Printing with XTOL? Why? It is the least toxic developer that's readily available. I'm just going to pretend that it is not a film developer. :-) Development times are 2-3 times that of the norm with a 1+1 mix, but I really don't mind waiting 3 or 4 minutes! I have not tried stock XTOL yet. I'll save that for future FB paper tests. I will also try Silvergrain's Tektol print developer because the MSDS looks even better than XTOL. Yes, I do feel like a human lab rat!
To further eliminate harmful chemistry to me, I found a supply of sodium thiosulfate (97% tech grade) at $5 per Kg. Using a mix of 100g/litre, I see no difference in the clearing time of Delta 400 or Delta 3200 films compared to a rapid fixer of ammonium thiosulfate with other lovely ingredients. I'm fixing the RC paper in this for about 2 minutes. No acid stop baths anymore - just tap water.
In any case, I'm hoping these ingredients will allow me to print again, even if only for limited times with select negatives. It all makes me reflect on how much I had taken for granted in the art of photography.
My thanks to the many people here on FADU for their encouragement, suggestions and ideas to help point me in the direction to start solving this bio chemistry problem.
cheers
Bruce
p.s. I just uploaded an example of this process to my album