We are certainly blessed down here with large spaces for low prices, relative to other parts of the country. The low costs of living though are indicative of other things like low wages / socioeconomics though for many. SS is another topic we probably can't get into here obviously. I have paid a lot in. I don't expect to see a dime.Originally Posted by Randy Moe
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
That was advice I once got from the richest guy I ever knew. He told me this on his daily walk through the factory.
Manna.
We didn’t ask for enough.
It's taken me 50 years to accumulate my darkroom. The oldest thing I have in continuous use is my Dad's Airequipt 4 in 1 easel, been using that since I was 7, I'm 61 now. Good things come to those who wait. That is wait until someone wants rid of something more than they want to fool around finding a good price for it. I've picked up stuff for the hauling, driven long distances etc. I have people call me wanting to give me stuff so it doesn't get destroyed. A kind professor at our local University, had a fellow deliver a 10 foot Arkay SS sink and stand, I found it intact on my front lawn. At first I thought why? I was lucky and got rid of some shelves and junk, it fit in like a glove. Now I have 2 huge sinks. I putter constantly, not much left I can really want for other than time to get to printing.
I would definitely give up most rooms in my house to spare my darkroom.
My wife talks about what are we gonna do when we get older. I tell her they will have to carry me out in that sink. Never give in!
And Yes, do not go quietly! !
So is there a picture of this as per the title of the thread ?
Here's my second darkroom. The first one has tight GDPR settings and isn't for sharing. This one is for public space.
It's a mess isn't it?
This is the blueprint - a 4.5 x 3.5 metre room. I'm trying to create a community darkroom with arts funding. So far it's working with kind donations of small and medium format enlargers (still waiting for a large format one); processing equipment and 35mm SLRs. So far it's not working in every other aspect
The waterworks are in place already, and the rest of the project envisioned to start off spinning centrifugal interest via chemigrams, lumen printing and less technical aspects of photography. There is a cafe planned adjacent to the darkroom venture, which I'm working on to become self-sustaining, mostly through whole plate portraiture work on offer for those who frequent the cafe, as well as practical instruction for those who wish to image their own friends and family, to develop and print.
I'm amazed at the amount of obstacles in place for developing creativity. Whether or not we surmount these to pin a new community darkroom on the map in London within the next year remains on a knife edge....
Thoughts or encouragement welcome.
I redid my darkroom in 2016, on the cheap except for the West System epoxy for the plywood sink.
The 28" x 84" sink has built-in slope in two directions, so it could be installed level. I kerfed the back of the plywood and inlaid mahogany wedges to form the slopes. The sink aprons have dadoes matched to the slope, so it's well supported around the perimeter. I also did some structural fillets out of epoxy for extra strength.
I made a few base cabinets out of melamine. The open frame of the substrate (doubled-up strips of 3/4 plywood) allows the sloped base to be shimmed underneath for extra support.
The mixing valve isn't ideal. I used some globe valves and a tempering 'anti-sweat' mixer, along with an inline Miller thermometer. It works ok, but the temperature drifts a bit, depending on flow rate. There's a hot water tap that bypasses the tempering valve, and there are taps in two other locations for tempered water. The back splash is Formica over 3/8" plywood. The drain is vented with a Studor Redi-vent, which drains at the same rate as it did unplumbed.
I replaced my crappy VCT floor with plank linoleum. I like the new floor, it has a ship lap profile, with an adhesive edge that seals the both the long and short seams. It's a floating floor, so probably not ideal for really wet locations. I hated the VCT though, unless you buff and wax it regularly it gets pretty gross.
Colin...that sink is spectacular!
Also...regarding floating floors in potentially wet locations - I speak from my own experience with my floating vinyl darkroom flooring...which when flooded a couple of years ago (water ingress source since sealed), allowed me to simply take up this floor (carefully cut with razor knife to deal with fixed sink and lab bench feet), let the cement underneath dry, and re-treat (with concrobium to kill and protect from any mold/mildew) and re-install the floor...with the razor cuts (these disappear when floor is installed) which would allow an easy future pull-out/cleaning/reinstalling.
Now...I'm curious about your ventilation scenario - and what about the dry side?
Thanks John. I only alt-print these days, so I have no open trays of anything stronger than citric acid. The nastiest task I do is formalin-hardened sizing on WC paper for carbon transfer, which is coated and cured out in a detached garage. For everything else a Panasonic ceiling fan and cracked window work pretty well. I would eventually like to put in a light-baffled vent to outside, it's a small room and it can get a little stale when I'm processing a lot of film and have a light cork stuffed in the window.
Dry side is pretty much just a shopmade pizza oven with a vacuum easel for alt prints, and a scanner and inkjet printer for digital negatives.
This is exactly what I was thinking of doing... a pull out drawer alt exposure unit. Brilliant!
Whoa...those drawer slides - amazing! You've gotta patent this! Then again...its such an obvious (and brilliant) application that it may be un-patentable!
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