I'm planning a post or few for my blog, on the thrift store / yard sale approach to darkroom equipment for beginners who -- how well many of us remember it! -- are hard pressed for cash after buying film and can't pay lab processing fees. Since my work is B&W only, that will be my focus. I have more than 50 years' darkroom experience, so I what I'm looking for is perhaps less obvious solutions that some of you have used successfully. For instance, some have mentioned soda bottles for chemical storage, but I don't know if they are all the same kind of plastic that has been mentioned -- several initials -- or not.
Beginners will often have to adapt small space, developing and maybe printing -- probably contact for LF, enlarging smaller formats when they can find an affordable enlarger -- in a bathroom. (My darkroom was half a small bedroom for many decades, waterless, with lots of tray hauling and washing in the tub.)
Thrift stores / yard sales are good places for Pyrex measuring cups, glass 13x9 and 8x8 baking pans or similar chem-proof trays. Other ideas?
I don't necessarily have a good idea for unscratched 1/4-inch plate glass for contacts, or a DIY easel for 5x7 and or 8x10.
If you have a useful suggestion or two to offer regarding equipment or tools that would otherwise tend to be pricey, I will be grateful.
I'll have to look up developers like caffenol; there's Gainer's Vitamin C, which is cheap and easy, though it was too active for my needs.
Thanks in advance.
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