Favorite Dodge & Burn Tools?

[Salmo22]

I'm very excited that my home darkroom project is nearing an end and I anticipate producing silver gelatin prints in a month. As I was putting the finishing touches on my enlarger station last night, I realize I don't have a set of dodging and burning tools. I like crafting my own tools when reasonably possible and was looking for input.

What various shapes do LFPF members find most useful for their dodging tools?

What materials do you prefer for the handle, rod, and dodging shapes?

What shapes and materials do you prefer for your burning tools?

I've noted the old Testrite dodging and vignetter kits as examples, but wondered if/how they can be improved upon?

[nolindan]

Hands, bits of cardboard, coat hanger wire, glue. Make them as you need them, if you make up a set beforehand they will all be the wrong size and shape.

[xkaes]

Other than home-made ones (as mentioned above) I like the Spiratone Vignetter -- seen here. You can shape it anyway you want:

http://www.subclub.org/fujinon/center7.htm

I often cut out a section from a piece of cardboard -- the same shape as a horizon, cliff, building, whatever --- to allow burning in a sky, window, whatever by moving the mask up & down, left & right, whatever during the exposure.

Spiratone, Luminos, and other sold burning/dodging kits with different tools and shapes that can be helpful -- and don't cost much at all.

[Michael Graves]

I purchased this set from Reinhold Schable (did I spell that correctly) a few years back and have never been happier with a product...with the possible exception of my LazyBoy recliner with the massaging and heating elements installed.

https://www.re-inventedphotoequip.co...,_Carrier.html

[Pieter]

Besides my hands and fingers, I use a number of homemade devices. I glue a sheet of white and black pastel paper together, giving me a duplex surface that I can cut into a custom shape if needed and be able to see the projected image on the white side while having the black side face the paper. That might entail holes or slits in a letter-size sheet, or circles, rectangles or other small shapes cut out of the paper and taped to an 18” length of spring wire. I will sometimes improvise a small shape with some gaffer’s tape or black fine foil on the end of the wire, too. If I have a burning board with a hole cut into it that might need some modifying, I stick some strips of gaffer’s or even painter’s blue tape to suit the need.

[Drew Wiley]

I rarely need more than just an oversize sheet of thick paper, usually a leftover scrap of print mounting board. Otherwise, I simply improvise as needed from scraps, on-hand wire, and tape, just like Pieter. I have never seen the need to purchase dodging/burning accessories, though there is nothing wrong in doing that.

[nolindan]

If you are going to buy a set you probably can't do better than Rheinhold's set https://www.re-inventedphotoequip.co...,_Carrier.html

[Richard Wasserman]

When I was doing silver printing I made a couple simple and handy tools—I never liked using my hands. I soldered a paperclip to the end of a thin wire and I then inserted various shapes and sizes of paper/posterboard to suit. I also made a 2 piece burn-in tool from posterboard that was white on one side and black on the other. One piece was a simple rectangle (about the same size as the print) with a large hole in the lower right hand quadrant which worked in conjunction with an L-shaped piece that could be slid around to adjust the shape and size of the hole. I had them in a couple different dimensions for various print sizes. I also used a rectangle of the same black/white board which can be used flat or bent to make curves or odd shapes which was useful for burning near edges.

[Doremus Scudder]

I use home-made wands and cards for dodging. Like Nicholas suggests, make them as you need them. Scissors, wire, cardboard and tape are all you need. Hands work really well too. My most-used wand is a "sun"; a circle with lots of "rays" cut into the edge to help blur the edge when burning. I have knife-shapes, squares, rectangles, tri- and etc.-angles.

For burning, my most useful tool are large cards made of mat board, one side black (the down side) and the other white. I've cut a series of different size holes near the center. These are covered with cardboard on tape hinges and normally taped shut. I open the little doors to reveal the size hole I need for burning. Some of the little doors have holes in them too, covered with other little doors.

For tricky skylines, I'll often lay down a scrap sheet of photo paper, back-up, and draw the outline. Then I'll cut the paper to shape and use that to dodge or burn with.

The possibilities are endless.

Doremus

[bob carnie]

. so I retired this set about a year ago, I wanted to make an art piece for my darkroom, but I still use the exact tools like this, I also cut a hole in thick card white on top so I can see the image and black on bottom to stop reflection, and I also use my hands to make the ducks ass and the ducks bill or modify to make any shape, I have found that when I started to split contrast print and flash I needed less dodge and burn.