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Considerations in setting up a darkroom
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Hi,
I am at the formative stages in setting up a personal darkroom over the next 8- 12 weeks, and hoped to impose on the collective wisdom of the film guru’s here at PI, especially those that have set up their own darkrooms/ have experience of using darkrooms. I’m reading up all I can at the moment, but there really is no subsitute for experience, especially if you can help me prevent myself making some horrific fundamental mistakes :)
The space I have earmarked is a small, spare bedroom approx. 11ft x 8ft. The room has a large window, in addition to a door, which I am confident I can black out easily enough. The space will be a dedicated darkroom space, but as it will be a converted bedroom, will have no running water. There will however be water nearby, as the bedroom is on a hallway, and there is a bathroom across the hallway.
I hope to sketch up a rough floor plan, for any inquiring minds, and my main considerations at present are ventilation, how to deal with a lack of running water, and the subject of a sink.
Ventilation is something that concerns me, given the possibility of long-ish printing sessions, but my budget is tight-ish and structural alterations are probably out of the question (ie holes in walls, etc). Is there a simpler solution, or should I simply look at shorter darkroom sessions, and airing the darkroom during breaks.
Running water – am I right in thinking print washing is going to be the main consideration here? I’ve heard of a number of solutions, from washing prints in a bucket, to storing them in a picnic-style cooler box before bringing them to a bathroom and washing them with running water. Any feedback on this one appreciated.
Sink – do I need one? If so, should I simply build one myself?
I should mention the above darkroom space I intend to use mainly for printing, as I will be developing elsewhere, and bring the developed negs here to print. Also, I’m looking at a black and white workflow, but if I wanted to allow myself to do colour also, would this require any special considerations?
Any thoughts on volume printing also welcome. I am planning to shoot solely film, in addtion to cranking up my throughput with some projects I have in mind, and figuring I will be printing in batches, advice is welcome.
EDIT: went mad sketching; floor plan here for any one interested (http://picasaweb.google.com/damienomuirchu/Darkroom#5433056101775297394″ onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;)
Thanks in advance,
Damien
Can’t give any firsthand experience as I luckily have use of a communal darkroom at local art center but hope the following could be of some use to you.
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/ak3/ak3.pdf” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/oneida/4H/Project%20resources/Photography/create%20your%20own%20darkroom.pdf” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Hi Dermot,
Thanks for those – came across them in my trawl for all things darkroom. Working to a bit of a budget though, and don’t have the luxury of structural alterations, running water, or an unlimited budget. 2nd link is quite good though, and probably why there are not as many questions in my above post :)
I’m hoping to do most of the work myself, such as constructing work surfaces, storage, etc and hoping to draw on any knowledge/ experience of users as to some of the things that stood out for them in darkrooms they’ve used. Also being on a budget, hoping to find some shortcuts :)
Damien
I once was in the same situation as you when I had my darkroom set up in a spare bedroom. Having a sink with running water is obviously ideal but you can manage by storing the prints in a container as you mentioned and then carrying them to the bathroom.
I’ve never had ventilation in any of the four darkrooms I’ve had over the years and never felt the need to. The only time I did require it was when selenium toning but thats done with the lights on so you can leave a door or window open.
You’ll need a colour head enlarger if you plan to try colour printing. Everything else you will have.
I placed my trays on a worktop space on one side of the room with my enlarger situated on the other side. Just take care not to spill any chemicals when agitating your trays. I usually place a few sheets of news paper under the trays.
A bedroom darkroom is actually very easy to setup so you’ll be in action in no time.
Good luck,
PeterHi Damien,
Wish you well with your new venture.
Have almost the same size room and layout as per your sketch in my own darkroom,
so if its of any help you’r more then welcome to visit me anytime and have a look.(i’m in South Dublin).Would also highly recommend the use of a drum processor in your setup.
I process paper and film using a Jobo CPP2 with lift,which eliminates any need for a sink and running water,also reduces chemical odours to an absolute minimum.
Whichever way you go about it i wish you the best of luck with it,
Noel
Hi Noel,
That’s quite generous, and would love to take you up on the offer. I’m juggling a lot of things at the moment, but will drop you a pm in the next few weeks, if that’s ok – perhaps you can show me some of those beautiful Barnack Leica’s you have, at the same time.
You raise a good point re: a film processor, and I would definitely consider something along those lines should I have the budget. At the moment, I’m considering processing film in Dublin where I don’t have much space, with a darkroom for printing in Waterford where I do have the space.
What do you do for print washing, by the way ?
Damien
Almost skipped past your post, Peter – thanks for the advice, I was hoping you would chime in with your years of experience :)
May reconsider the ventilation then. I figure if I mix the chemicals in an adjacent room, and air the room when washing prints in the adjacent bathroom, that may minimise vapours/ fumes. I know black and white chemicals on the whole are ok, but just concerned by the cumulative effect over time.
Print washing was my main concern, and if I can cope without running water that would be a big plus. I plan on printing in batches, so this would suit.
Any other nuggets of wisdom? I’m hoping to be cheeky and benefit from all those gems learned over decades.. if you’ll share your secrets :)
By the way, very interested in your beginners darkroom course, if you’re running it in the near future – I regret not being around the last time you ran it. Also interested in your intermediate course, but baby-steps first :)
Damien
Nice, sounds like you have lots of room.
I think that you should try and get some ventilation in if you can. Perhaps as part of your device for blocking up a window/door would
to have an opening where ventilation could be fitted. Worth a think… Of couse, opening the door up often to let in fresh air is a help
too.I don’t have running water and get on fine to be honest. I wouldn’t mind it of course but can get away grand for now.
I do my proper washing in the bathroom after I’m finished up.I built a sink with slope out of 18mm 6-ply marine, waterproofed it with a specialist resin-based paint (ebay) and fitted it with a plug
hole with flexible hose leading out of it into a 5 gallon water drum. For now the sink takes care of any spillages and later will be perfect
when I have running water in there. The sink is sitting on top of a bench (made with 4x2s mostly). If I need to I can fold up the bench
pretty easily by loosening some hex bolts.May reconsider the ventilation then. I figure if I mix the chemicals in an adjacent room, and air the room when washing prints in the adjacent bathroom, that may minimise vapours/ fumes. I know black and white chemicals on the whole are ok, but just concerned by the cumulative effect over time.
Id be with Mark ventilate. When I started printing at home I had no ventilation. Started to get headaches from the chemicals….
Went down the builders providers, I bought 4 small fans and two of those flexible pipes. One pipe and two fans for sucking air in, the other two fans and pipe for blowing air out, costed around 60 euro to sort out me ventilation, money well spent i think…
I dont have running water in my darkroom, just use the bathroom next door…
Have fun, but be warned its addictive
Mdamien.murphy wrote:
Hi Noel,
What do you do for print washing, by the way ?
Damien
Hi Damien,
Print washing is also carried out in the Jobo drum,with several changes of water depending on RC or fibre paper,discarded water can be drained into a container if you don;t have a plumbed outlet to a drain.
For large prints drum takes about 300ml for each change.Look forward to your visit when you get the time.
Noel
Mark/ Martin – I’m inclined towards ventilation, and hear ye. Martin – can you explain your system a bit more – the cost sounds quiet reasonable, and would be interested in adopting/ adapting the same if I can.
Re: washing, when you say you use a nearby bathroom for washing, do you mean you rinse them with a shower nozzle/ how do you wash your prints?
Still learning as I go, so forgive some of the questions if the seem naieve :)
Damien
Hmm.. using a processor does seem attractive. If I have the budget after selling on the last of my unused photo kit, I think I will seriously consider it..
In the meatime, I must read up more on Winogrands technique. I believe he was a prolific printer, and liked to see his images on paper to evaluate them, at least for proofs. I remember reading previously he used to expose all his proof prints at home in a darked-out bedroom with an enlarger, and then bring them to the college darkrooms and develop dozens of proof prints at a time. This sort of batch-printing for proofs appeals to me, and would like to start with a decent workflow from the start..
Damien
Martin wrote:
Went down the builders providers, I bought 4 small fans and two of those flexible pipes. One pipe and two fans for sucking air in, the other two fans and pipe for blowing air out, costed around 60 euro to sort out me ventilation, money well spent i think…
I did something very similar, just with one fan on each. 2 sounds very interesting ! Can’t have enough fresh air, might
get another…On the print washing side I was lucky enough to get hold of a Paterson 16x12in major archival washer
which I leave in the bath and hook it up to a tap with water slowly going through the washer. The water
gently moves the print holder back and forth. Seems to do the job.fyi, from the Paterson website
damien.murphy wrote:
Martin – can you explain your system a bit more – the cost sounds quiet reasonable, and would be interested in adopting/ adapting the same if I can.
Re: washing, when you say you use a nearby bathroom for washing, do you mean you rinse them with a shower nozzle/ how do you wash your prints?
Ventilation wise. I have one pipe blowing air in and another blowing it out. I have these two pipes going out through the cloth as you can see in the picture below. These pipes go out to the open window that I only open when I am printing and the fans are turned on. I cover the pipes in the black cloth you can see here to give me 100% darkness and not allow light leaks. The white cloth you can see here I use to block out the window. Got the cloth in a fabric shop
The pick below shows one of the fans that extracts air out of the room. At the other end of the pipe beside the open window is another fan sucking the air out. This extracting fan is high up. The other pipe has the same sort of two fans connected except it blows air into the room. This pipe is kept very low near to the ground to give air circulation
Yes I rinse the fixer off my prints with a shower Nozzel. The tray in the below picture is full of water which I put the prints into afterwards for a few hours till I have finished my print session. After the print session they are washed in ilford wash aid and re washed…
Thats my ventilation and washing mechanism for the moment, nothing advanced
MWow – thanks for the effort of illustrating your ventilation system Martin. This is something I want to give more thought to, and can’t see why a system like yours & Marks wouldn’t work for me too.
Re: print washing, my plan is to probably use a shower nozzle to wash prints initially. Print washers seem quite expensive (nice piece of kit, by the way Mark), and maybe something I might look at creating my own version of down the line..
Damien
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