Page 2 of 7 FirstFirst 1234 ... LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 62

Thread: Starting the darkroom build. What to consider

  1. #11

    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Posts
    380

    Re: Starting the darkroom build. What to consider

    Quote Originally Posted by barryjyoung View Post
    may at some point build a horizontal enlarger for 8x10, not sure on that yet as it is a big job.
    The 8x10" horizontal may actually come out smaller than the 4x5" enlarger: A Toyo G or Gii should be sturdy enough.

    Sent fra min SM-S901B via Tapatalk

  2. #12
    Barry Young
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Patterson, MO
    Posts
    143

    Re: Starting the darkroom build. What to consider

    Quote Originally Posted by Ulophot View Post
    Keep it coming!

    I'm still in a bedroom, but at least it's dedicated, not the one we sleep in, as was the case years ago in a one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. I don't expect to ever have another, and while I would live a longer sink and a separate room for the dry mount press, etc., I can do what I need. I initially considered the basement of this 1950s house, but it does not provide the vertical clearance needed. Just as well; it used to flood in hard rains.

    After years here, I was able to afford a sink, which a friend installed and plumbed. After decades washing prints in a plastic tub in the bathroom tub, it's a luxury. Ceiling is 8'; max enlargement, due to sink size and preference, is 11x14. I have processed 16x20s in a tube, but eventually dispensed with it in the course of streamlining my intentions and gear.

    As a teen, I was shocked to see the darkroom of eminent photographer Walter Rosenblum, whose 11x14 prints are beautiful. It was in a closet in the family's apartment, with enough room for the sink and scant standing room, period. His trays were stacked in order to leave room for one of those old rotary print washers. Later on, his circumstances improved considerably, but that was an early lesson for me in how dedication trumps gear.

    Looking forward to your forthcoming posts.
    Hi Philip:

    Gracious, Manhattan. Wow.

    Could not agree with you more! Dedication trumps gear. Those are fabulous words. Look at the austere lab Edward Weston used! It was a light bulb and a recycled crate! He could only use it when it was dark outside. Dedication trumps gear! What happens with dedication plus gear? Dedication plus gear equals Ansel Adam's lab! The bedroom/darkroom worked for me, it was simply not convenient. There was also a tiny closet on an oil rig while working north of the arctic circle. One could only load film onto reels and it was essentially a big changing bag. Then the loaded tank would be taken to the kitchen where the cook allowed me to process the negatives in his stainless sink. No printing could be done, but I could see the negatives. Now, being quite old I want dedication plus gear plus easy plus convenient.

    The sink going into this lab is the longest I have ever owned. It is around sixteen feet long and my first made of stainless steel. It came from a junk yard in Southern Indiana. Found it on Craigslist for $105. Score! The sink we left in Tacoma was made of wood with fiberglass. I had to build it in place in the tiny basement bedroom and ended up sawing it in half to get it out when we moved. I gave it to one of my two best photographer friends John Austin and he is going to put it back together and use it in his lab.

    Funny you should mention the Arkay rotary print washer. We had one in my high school photo lab in the mid 1970's. I thought it was an amazing use of water power to not only wash the prints but also power the drum. There was one in my Tacoma darkroom but ended up junking it during the move to Missouri. There is an archival sitting on the floor waiting to go on the sink after it is installed, but the feeling of nostalgia for the Arkay rotary washer would not leave me. During a trip to Photo World in Columbus Ohio a month ago, low and behold, there was an Arkay rotary print washer on the shelf. So, for nostalgia alone, I snapped it up and bought it. Yay! Maybe it will run empty while printing just cause it sounds so cool.

    Thanks for the very nice message Philip.

    Barry

  3. #13
    Barry Young
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Patterson, MO
    Posts
    143

    Re: Starting the darkroom build. What to consider

    Quote Originally Posted by Oslolens View Post
    The 8x10" horizontal may actually come out smaller than the 4x5" enlarger: A Toyo G or Gii should be sturdy enough.

    Sent fra min SM-S901B via Tapatalk
    There are two Beseler 45MXT's going in there so it probably would be smaller. Prudence would indicate caution when venturing into enlarging 8x10. Who listens to that old Prudence lady anyway? Just kidding. Pretty sure contact printing 11x14 negs and enlarging 4x5 should be enough for me. I want to make photographs not enlargers. So let's just avoid the 8x10 enlarger complication all together and live happy lives anyway. After a lifetime of chasing squirrels, it is finally time to get down to brass tacks. Wonder what brass tacks have to do with anything? What an odd colloquialism.

    Barry

  4. #14
    Barry Young
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Patterson, MO
    Posts
    143

    Help me, I am sinking!

    The sink goes in today!

    If Mrs. Wonderful does not see me lollygagging and insist that I pull the rest of the creeping Juniper out of the flower garden there may be a chance at finally getting the sink dragged into the darkroom. The sucker weighs about 200 pounds and is 16 feet or so long. Luckily my apprentice is young and mighty! Hopefully someone will be around to take pictures of this little move. It should be most entertaining. Will keep you posted.

    Barry

  5. #15

    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Iowa City, Iowa
    Posts
    1,697

    Re: Help me, I am sinking!

    Quote Originally Posted by barryjyoung View Post
    The sink goes in today!

    If Mrs. Wonderful does not see me lollygagging and insist that I pull the rest of the creeping Juniper out of the flower garden there may be a chance at finally getting the sink dragged into the darkroom. The sucker weighs about 200 pounds and is 16 feet or so long. Luckily my apprentice is young and mighty! Hopefully someone will be around to take pictures of this little move. It should be most entertaining. Will keep you posted.

    Barry
    Keep posting pictures of the progress!

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Purcellville, VA
    Posts
    1,784

    Re: Starting the darkroom build. What to consider

    16 feet?! Heck, pardner, you could go swimming in there! My mother told the story of her uncle Montagu who built a boat in his basement and then encountered a certain difficulty between that and the water. I know from family stories at my own expense that these are generally vile slanders of the supreme engineering and foresight of artistic genius, and get embellished in order to turn the proverbial knife. And I'll thank you not to mention the plywood kitchen table I expertly fitted to an irregular, trapezoidal corner with a water pipe cutout before I epoxied the 2x4 legs onto the wrong side. But, after all, I was a mere child of...20.

    Anyway, it's fun following your progress here.
    Philip Ulanowsky

    Sine scientia ars nihil est. (Without science/knowledge, art is nothing.)
    www.imagesinsilver.art
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/156933346@N07/

  7. #17
    Barry Young
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Patterson, MO
    Posts
    143

    Re: Help me, I am sinking!

    Quote Originally Posted by Duolab123 View Post
    Keep posting pictures of the progress!
    I am, I have five pictures going up later today

  8. #18
    Barry Young
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Patterson, MO
    Posts
    143

    Re: Starting the darkroom build. What to consider

    Quote Originally Posted by Ulophot View Post
    16 feet?! Heck, pardner, you could go swimming in there! My mother told the story of her uncle Montagu who built a boat in his basement and then encountered a certain difficulty between that and the water. I know from family stories at my own expense that these are generally vile slanders of the supreme engineering and foresight of artistic genius, and get embellished in order to turn the proverbial knife. And I'll thank you not to mention the plywood kitchen table I expertly fitted to an irregular, trapezoidal corner with a water pipe cutout before I epoxied the 2x4 legs onto the wrong side. But, after all, I was a mere child of...20.

    Anyway, it's fun following your progress here.
    Hi Philip:

    Table? What table? I would never even think of mentioning your table. Hey, is that the same table with the legs on the wrong side by any chance? Trust me, I have hundreds of projects that turned out just like your table. Man that must have been some table though!

    One of the many table like happenings was when I blurted out that the sink was 16 feet long. I said this because it took up most of my garage where it was stored. I assumed the garage was 20 feet long to accommodate a pickup, it wasn't and the sink wasn't either. It was only 12 feet long. LOL, ONLY 12 feet long. Anyhoo, it looked longer lying there on the floor. I was wrong. Repeat, I was wrong and should have measured before announcing. I am deeply sorry and will look to the photo God for whatever penance I must pay. But hey, it's a sink not a table after all.

    Barry

  9. #19
    Barry Young
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Patterson, MO
    Posts
    143

    Re: Starting the darkroom build. What to consider

    OK, so the darkroom was ready, the floor was mopped twice which it needed after all that drywall nonsense was removed. It will need more mopping. That gypsum stuff turns to glue after you walk on it for a week and add water.

    Next on our list was moving the sink from the garage to the front of the house where there is a water source to clean it. As you can see in the photos, the sink got a bunch of mud in it while it was carefully being stored outside by the workshop. It is heavy and cumbersome to move. So I drilled holes in the legs to accept 1/2 inch steel rods which I had cut and cross drilled for cotter pins. I stole the wheels from my two hand trucks temporarily and voila! I suddenly owned the fastest sink on LF Forum! It drove like a dream so we pushed it up the hill and around the house to where there was a faucet. After fiddling with the hose for the usual amount of time and frustration, we started cleaning the sink. Oh Boy, under the mud and filth there was a lovely sink. We got 99% of the grunge off then it was time to take it back to its forever home. My apprentice Chris was not crushed to death going down the hill as I had anticipated he might be, he is doing a great job!

    I had been sweating for 6 months since purchasing the sink about how to get this gynormous thing through the craft room, through the pantry, make a 90 degree corner, through both doorways and into the darkroom. Just as with all things I worry about, my fears were much worse than the reality. Chris and I had a pow wow about best ways to move forward. He often has great ideas. We had walked through with a tape measure stuck out 12 feet to sort of get an idea of what we were up against. Turns out, the sink was actually wider than the tape measure so it looked like it would be easier than it actually was. But not by much. Chris came up with the idea of removing the sink from the legs, turning it up 90 degrees to fit onto the little sink cart gizmo we had made and transport it that way. That kid! Awesome! We had to move maybe only 20 boxes to make room to swing the battleship Stainless Sink (bad name for a boat) around the corner at the pantry. It slipped through only running into two kerosene heaters which somebody had put in the way earlier in the month. My thoughts are that is was someone devilishly clever and handsome yet refined, but we have no idea actually who would put those things in the way like that. At any rate it slipped right through the stacks of moving boxes and both doorways and came to rest up against the West wall of the darkroom just as it was supposed to do. I felt victory in the air and grabbed hold with both hands and sank to my knees crying in achievement. Not really. I just said "wow".

    Also shown in the photos is the plumbing and temperature control valve from the old darkroom in Tacoma. Because the house was sold and I had to skeedaddle out, I left the plumbing whole and just loaded it on top everything else in the moving truck. So, it is funny how things work out. After transporting that plumbing all that way whole, now I will have to take it apart to install it in this new darkroom. Fate has a funny way of getting even with people. We will have to put two more legs on the left end of the sink.

    So, enjoy the pictures and please let me know if there are any questions, I enjoy your questions very much. Yes Philip, even the ones about your table and Montagu. As to vile slanders, it has a nice ring to it, I will steal that and put it into my writing bag for later use.

    Thank you

    Barry
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	PXL_20230505_223129299.jpg 
Views:	78 
Size:	133.2 KB 
ID:	238492Click image for larger version. 

Name:	PXL_20230505_224532558.MP.jpg 
Views:	69 
Size:	80.4 KB 
ID:	238496Click image for larger version. 

Name:	PXL_20230505_230044206.jpg 
Views:	68 
Size:	44.0 KB 
ID:	238493Click image for larger version. 

Name:	PXL_20230505_233124750.jpg 
Views:	77 
Size:	41.4 KB 
ID:	238494Click image for larger version. 

Name:	PXL_20230505_233141962.jpg 
Views:	59 
Size:	64.4 KB 
ID:	238495
    Last edited by barryjyoung; 7-May-2023 at 19:32.

  10. #20

    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Purcellville, VA
    Posts
    1,784

    Re: Starting the darkroom build. What to consider

    In photo 4, I can't understand the sink. The closest park looks normal, but the part on the far side of what appears to be a deep sink without a bottom part, appears to have a long raied section with a channel at the front.
    Philip Ulanowsky

    Sine scientia ars nihil est. (Without science/knowledge, art is nothing.)
    www.imagesinsilver.art
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/156933346@N07/

Similar Threads

  1. Journey to build a new darkroom - Build log
    By Fragomeni in forum Darkroom: Equipment
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 27-Aug-2022, 09:52
  2. Thinking about starting a darkroom coop...
    By bvstaples in forum Resources
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 8-Feb-2016, 13:33
  3. New darkroom build
    By Allen in Montreal in forum Darkroom: Equipment
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 21-Apr-2013, 18:45
  4. Beginning Enlarger & Starting Darkroom
    By photoman in forum Darkroom: Equipment
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 11-Feb-2011, 00:54
  5. Advice needed for starting Darkroom
    By gbr1000 in forum Darkroom: Equipment
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 22-Sep-2010, 10:09

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •