# Building a Vintage darkroom but I'm a noob so it could all go horribly wrong..



## Schubacabra (Jan 14, 2013)

Ok so yeah I don't know what I'm doing pretty much at all but I love photography and my four year old daughter got a camera for Christmas and she loves it as well. I thought why not build a darkroom so we can develop photos together. We could spend quality time together and start a life long hobby that we can share. So I'm just getting started. I like vintage stuff so I decided that to make my darkroom unique and more to my tastes I would use as many vintage touches as possible. I'm converting my office closet and attached bathroom from my eBay station to the the darkroom. This thread is going to follow the whole process. Any comments, suggestions, critiques, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

The space 7'x6.5' (from the back of the attached smaller closet is 7' so it's a little smaller) As you can see I need to remove a bunch of stuff.

















The attached bathroom.











So step one is to remove all my eBay stuff and take the bathroom and closet doors off. 

Here we go...


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## cgipson1 (Jan 14, 2013)

Nice! That is wonderful! But please define what you mean by "Vintage"?


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## Schubacabra (Jan 14, 2013)

cgipson1 said:


> Nice! That is wonderful! But please define what you mean by "Vintage"?



I'm using vintage items as much as possible safelight, trays, enlarger etc. I've ordered a couple of these things and will add pictures to this thread as they arrive.


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## Mully (Jan 14, 2013)

Look up ... Freestyle.com. They sell darkroom paper, film and chemicals for a good price


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## Schubacabra (Jan 14, 2013)

Mully said:


> Look up ... Freestyle.com. They sell darkroom paper, film and chemicals for a good price



Awesome, thanks for the heads up.


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## bsinmich (Jan 15, 2013)

Are you planning on doing B&W or color? B&W is much easier to do for a beginner and with a little less equipment. You will need a tank to develop the film, three trays to develop the prints in and an enlarger. You can use a watch for a timer. You will also need a few jugs to hold the mixed chemicals. When making prints you can use a safelight to help you see what you are doing. If you can see without a safelight it is not dark yet. The other day, as I was loading film the phones rang. The dial light showed up on the film. Time and temperature are the rule for film. Prints I always judge by how they look under the safelight. It takes a while to get that down good but it comes pretty quick. There is nothing like seeing the first picture come onto that blank sheet of paper as it sits in the developer and then just get better and better. That should make both of you hooked for life. I can almost remember my first ones in 1952. I find BH Photo has a large assortment of needs and just a little less expensive than Freestyle. I have used Freestyle since 1952 also.  If you need a film tank or so I just bought a bunch of stuff on Craigs list and got more tanks than I need.  I already had more than I needed so if you want a couple tanks let me know.  I also have quite a few 5X7 trays if you want to do small size prints.  The big advantage to them  isthey take up a lot less space on a counter and less chemical to fill.  Cost wou;d be postage.


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## Schubacabra (Jan 15, 2013)

*TODAYS PROGRESS
*
Added a cool metal piece that I had around the house to use as my "clothes line" The vintage developing hangers that I have coming are going to look awesome on it. I'm going to need a step stool to use it but I figured this would keep the hanging pictures out of my way when they were drying.

*CEILING BEFORE

*





*CEILING AFTER

*








I also bought a blackout curtain to hang on the only door into the darkroom. It works almost perfectly. I'm going to have to run some velcro strips on it to keep it flush against the door jamb. When it's not in use I can roll it up from the bottom and throw some clips on it to keep it in place.

*DOOR BEFORE

*





*DOOR AFTER

*















It's coming along. I can't wait till some of my darkroom tools start coming in so I can show everybody. Stay tuned!


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## unpopular (Jan 15, 2013)

Schubacabra said:


> cgipson1 said:
> 
> 
> > Nice! That is wonderful! But please define what you mean by "Vintage"?
> ...



Skip the enlarger and the safe lights, coat your own paper under candle light and contact print!


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## Schubacabra (Jan 15, 2013)

bsinmich said:


> Are you planning on doing B&W or color? B&W is much easier to do for a beginner and with a little less equipment. You will need a tank to develop the film, three trays to develop the prints in and an enlarger. You can use a watch for a timer. You will also need a few jugs to hold the mixed chemicals. When making prints you can use a safelight to help you see what you are doing. If you can see without a safelight it is not dark yet. The other day, as I was loading film the phones rang. The dial light showed up on the film. Time and temperature are the rule for film. Prints I always judge by how they look under the safelight. It takes a while to get that down good but it comes pretty quick. There is nothing like seeing the first picture come onto that blank sheet of paper as it sits in the developer and then just get better and better. That should make both of you hooked for life. I can almost remember my first ones in 1952. I find BH Photo has a large assortment of needs and just a little less expensive than Freestyle. I have used Freestyle since 1952 also.  If you need a film tank or so I just bought a bunch of stuff on Craigs list and got more tanks than I need.  I already had more than I needed so if you want a couple tanks let me know.  I also have quite a few 5X7 trays if you want to do small size prints.  The big advantage to them  isthey take up a lot less space on a counter and less chemical to fill.  Cost wou;d be postage.



Man I appreciate the input and I might take you up on that. I plan on starting with black and white and see where it takes me. I have the timer, safelight, trays, (all vintage and super cool looking, check back often as I will upload pics as they arrive) and a few other things all on the way to me. Thats a trip about your phone, note to self cell phones have no place in a darkroom.


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## Schubacabra (Jan 15, 2013)

unpopular said:


> Schubacabra said:
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> 
> > cgipson1 said:
> ...



Lol I said vintage not archaic..


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## BlackSheep (Jan 16, 2013)

Nice job so far!
I really like your "clothes line" idea.


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## dxqcanada (Jan 16, 2013)

Not sure what spaces (closet and washroom) you are going to use for what purpose.

I suspect you are going to develop film and also print ?

Printing trays take up a lot of space ... and can get messy (spilled/dripping chemicals).

Hmm, is that floor carpeted ?


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## dxqcanada (Jan 16, 2013)

http://www.shootfreaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/developing.jpg

Google Image Result for http://www.philipmorgan.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/trayladderloaded.jpg

You will have to consider the working space around your enlarger.
The space taken up by the trays of chemistry.
Get rid of the carpet on the floor ... the last thing you want is a carpet particle floating around the room ... and the soaked up chemistry really starts smelling after mixing in the fabric.


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## Schubacabra (Jan 16, 2013)

BlackSheep said:


> Nice job so far!
> I really like your "clothes line" idea.



Thanks, I'm trying to create a really cool looking unique space.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2


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## Schubacabra (Jan 16, 2013)

dxqcanada said:


> http://www.shootfreaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/developing.jpg
> 
> Google Image Result for http://www.philipmorgan.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/trayladderloaded.jpg
> 
> ...



That's for the heads up on the carpet. I'm still trying to figure a lot out and I appreciate the input. I rent so I don't know about taking the carpet out but I'm going to find out.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2


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## dxqcanada (Jan 16, 2013)

Maybe you can get a plastic mat to put over it ??


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## Mully (Jan 16, 2013)

Don't forget ventilation !!!!!


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## dxqcanada (Jan 16, 2013)

Ah, I love the smell of a darkroom ... though ventilation is a good thing.


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## Schubacabra (Jan 16, 2013)

Mully said:


> Don't forget ventilation !!!!!



I have a regular bathroom ventilation ceiling fan that I planned on using. Is that enough?


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## terri (Jan 16, 2013)

By and large, yes, that is enough.  Unless you plan on camping out in there and _not_ stepping outside every hour or two, you'll be fine.


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## timor (Jan 17, 2013)

Schubacabra said:


> unpopular said:
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> 
> > Schubacabra said:
> ...


Nothing "archaic" about that, actually the best way to do printing. For digital guys to. However very, very expensive as platinum cost money.


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## unpopular (Jan 17, 2013)

timor said:


> Schubacabra said:
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You don't need to use platinum or palladium. There are a tons of other processes. I've seen uranium-, gold-, lead- halide based processes. There are dichromated colloids (and the hundreds of various applications of that technique alone, including Carbon print which is the most archival of all processes). Salted paper, which might be able to adapt to other metallic nitrates. Cyanotype, and it's gazzilion variations. Ferrotype processes. Photo intaglio. 

If you have a glass kiln lying around there is gold halide doped glass, for the ultimate in nano-scale resolution!

The nice thing about alternative process is that there is a lot of room for interpretation. It's very easy to adapt old techniques and modify them into something novel - imagine photo electroplating or photo-thermal processes (both which I have ideas for, PM me if interested) or full color photo fresco (which I have been trying to figure out for years).

As for being archaic, you could work under an indirect 30w incandescent bulb, candles are a bit archaic, I suppose....


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## timor (Jan 17, 2013)

Good info.


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## Schubacabra (Jan 17, 2013)

unpopular said:


> timor said:
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> > Schubacabra said:
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Actually once I get my feet under me (and get a clue to what you just said) I'll probably be really interested in branching out into some wild stuff. One of the reasons I'm using vintage equipment is I'm not terribly interested in the crispest, sharpest image I can produce but the coolest. Photography as art, not just capturing a moment but capturing that moment then making it into something unique. On another note I'm getting bids to have my room tiled so thanks to everyone that got me started down that (expensive I've learned) path. Still waiting for some cool things to come in, more pics coming shortly.


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## timor (Jan 17, 2013)

Schubacabra said:


> Actually once I get my feet under me (and get a clue to what you just said) I'll probably be really interested in branching out into some wild stuff. One of the reasons I'm using vintage equipment is I'm not terribly interested in the crispest, sharpest image I can produce but the coolest. Photography as art, not just capturing a moment but capturing that moment then making it into something unique. On another note I'm getting bids to have my room tiled so thanks to everyone that got me started down that (expensive I've learned) path. Still waiting for some cool things to come, more pics coming shortly.


That's the spirit !:thumbup:


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## unpopular (Jan 17, 2013)

Schubacabra said:


> unpopular said:
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> > timor said:
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Having an enlarger is very useful for when you want to start branching out. It makes much more sense with alt process to make internegatives than shoot directly onto large format and make contact prints. Just something to store away in your noggin, when you do move into making internegatives, get one of those ionic air cleaners for dust management.


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