Favorite Dodge & Burn Tools?

[Corran]

Piece of foam core for large areas,
Hands/fingers for general purposes,
Then Reinhold's great set for precision,
Then note cards cut to shapes if needed for masking out a building or something. Taped to another piece of foamcore with a hole in the center sometimes.
Finally give up if none of those work and print with my digital enlarger setup ��

[HeatherLRH]

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?

Hi! I just happened upon this group!
Some people use ink on the negative itself to make corrections but it doesn’t sound like you learned that technique. So in this case my preference is to cut cardboard.
You would do your test print & cut out the spots that are blown out. Use your cutouts as a form for cardboard cut outs. When you try your print again let the entire paper be exposed & then use your dodging cut out. You can attach it to something if needed if the blown out spot isn’t close enough to the edge. For the remainder of the exposure you agitate the cardboard just shake it around in small movements so it moves around the edges of the area to be dodged. This prevents a noticeable hard edge to the area.
If you have the testrite dodging kit you can use it with your own cut outs. Just tape it if you have any problem attaching it to the “wand”. Cardboard keeps the cutout from flopping & being poorly controlled.
If your print paper is thick enough, you can just use that rather than cardboard. Save the cutouts with the test print along with the negative for future prints.
You would flip the process around for areas you want to burn. Test print, this time use a blade like an exacto to cut out the spots that need additional exposure to bring your image out. If your image is too big get someone else to help you hold your prepared test print/mask. You would do the same thing using small constant movements to feather the edges of your adjustment.
I love that you are doing this at home! W kids, pet birds w tiny lungs, and lack of appropriate space I haven’t been able to do that.
I’m sure you know to be sure to have enough ventilation. Adding an air purifier may be a good safeguard as well.
You may have figured out your own preferred process by now. I’d be interested to hear how it’s going!
Happy printing,
Heather

[HeatherLRH]

Alternatively, you can scan in your negative, fix it in photoshop & print a new negative w the corrections on vellum or specialty sheets. If it’s easier invert it before making your adjustments.

[Jim Noel]

I cut lightweight cardboard to the shape needed at the time.