Making my dark room darker

[Scott Walker]

A side benefit to black plastic used in large sheets is it attracts dust which then can be wiped off with a damp cloth. "...plastic practically sucked dust out of the air and was easy to clean with a damp cloth." Ctein, Post Exposure 2nd ed. Chapter 13, My Darkroom.

I built a temporary darkroom in the unfinished basement of a rental home a long while ago. I used a double sheet of heavy black construction poly to partition the darkroom off. It was stapled to the floor joists above and I had 2x4s holding the sheets down on the concrete floor. The door was a simple double light trap using the poly. The material proved to be completely light tight but it caused such an enormous amount of static that I finally resorted to misting it and the floor with water prior to printing or unloading/loading film in order to control the dust. I imagine the 30 feet of poly 9 feet high in a double layer that constantly rubbed together every time a door opened or shut anywhere in the house contributed to the problem, but I certainly did not find the poly sucking the dust out of the air.

[Pete Roody]

Delta makes 10 mil blackout vinyl. I close-off my alley kitchen opening with it and velcro. If you can live with velcro around your openings, it makes for quick set-up and take-down of the material.

[Chuck P.]

I've seen some really good ideas here on how to handle light leaks around the door, love the one with large garage door weather stripping, light proofing the door is one of my upcoming projects for my darkroom I'm preparing.

But here is how I've approached blackening my windows, a little more time consuming but not that bad. This is a bedroom turned into a darkroom. The idea is predicated on the necessity that I am able to gain immediate access to the window and still utlilize the window light as needed for evaluating prints, toning, etc...having light and returning to darkness is very quick, free of hassel. I refer to them as "portals". Two 11/32 pieces of plywood are glued and screwed together. But first, the outside piece is cut to allow access to the window and allow much light, the inside piece is cut proportionally larger (that piece used for the portal cover) with a significant light trap overlap painted flat black. Foam rubber weather seal is attached to the back and prevents light from entering between the plywood and the wall when the unit is screwed down---cost, about $30 each.

[David de Gruyl]

for the door, I have molding with black foam on the outside of the door (the door opens inwards) which seals around the top and sides. 10-20 minutes to install. I might have run gaffers tape along the inside to eliminate the space between the molding and the door jamb.

On the bottom, I use a black cloth snake filled with rice. I have tried a sweep in my old darkroom, and found that this works better and doesn't fall off or permanently damage the door (the only two options).

For windows, I use two layers of black plastic and a light proof curtain. All are stapled tight to the wall outside the window frame (over a bump).

Now if I could figure out how to get the LED on the fire alarm to be disabled... (I use tape on that).

[blevblev]

It's easy. Just get yourself a darkbulb. You screw it in to a light socket, and when you turn it on, the room gets dark.

See: http://darkbulb.org/default.aspx

[dmschnute]

Here is another approach to the problem.

Most of the equipment in our darkroom is top secret, so
we can’t talk about it. But we can tell you that our
darkroom is darker than anyone else’s darkroom. This is
because we use only imported dark from deep within the
depths of Jewel Cave. It is bottled for us especially
by H ... & J ..., who know where the most
salubrious dark may be found. This dark is so intense
that you may find globs of it clinging to your prints.
It is easily removed with turpentine and a wire brush.

The tricky part is locating the highest-quality source.
Not all Caves are suitable sources. And, like all dark-sources,
the smallest leak in the room will will deplete it rapidly.