18 Nov
2009
18 Nov
'09
5:32 p.m.
On 18 Nov 2009 at 9:38, Philip Pemberton wrote:
ID11 is basically D76 with an Ilford twist. Same basic
chemical
constituents, same process times and temperatures, and so on.
A favorite of mine was a home-cooked developer made simply of metol
and borax. Slow-acting, but wonderfully long-scale. It's in the
Kodak "cookbook", but I don't recall the number.
Photochemicals don't usually turn your hands brown
-- most of them are
clear (with the exception of indicator stopbaths which are either
yellow, purple or some colour in between depending on their current
pH).
Eventually, doing too many prints barehanded in Dektol (an old
technique was to "push" areas on a print by rubbing with developer-
soaked hands to raise the temperature locally.) Same idea as
breathing on the area. Eventually, the developer that permeates the
skin oxidizes and the hands become stained a nice brown.
Tongs? They were for sissies and kept disappearing anyway. Another
episode in a misspent youth.
--Chuck