Who uses bulk Chemicals?

[Bill Kumpf]

I have been reading Anchell’s “The Darkroom Cookbook” and am being bit by the bug.

Out of curiosity, how many people are using bulk chemicals in the darkroom?

What are your favorite formulas?

What are yours sources for bulk chemicals?

Thanks

[David A. Goldfarb]

I do. My usual film developers are PMK, ABC pyro, and occasionally RAF pyro-metol, and amidol for prints, and sometimes I'll experiment with other things. I use bulk chemicals for albumen printing as well to make the emulsion, gold toner, and plain hypo.

I usually get things from Artcraft or Photographer's Formulary. Gold Chloride I'll shop around a bit more for, so I get that from Mostly Metals. I was also in on the big Chinese amidol order that took about two or three years to complete.

[paulr]

standards are ansco 120, ansco 130, nelson gold toner, and my own film developer recipe.

sometimes also a variation or two on old amidol formulas, ardol, various intensifiers, and odd toners.

for things like fix and stop, i go the opposite route and enjoy the convenience of sprint chemistry.

most of it comes from the formulary (especially glycin, which they make themselves). i also have some stockpiles of reagent-grade chemicals that i inherited from someone who used to work with obscure processes. some of these i use, some i keep because they look interesting, and others i keep because i have no idea how to get rid of them (lead acetate, anyone??)

[Ken Lee]

I mix my own fixer, hypo clear, and all chemistry for Pt/Pd printing. I have also experimented with a variety of toners and developer formulas. It's the way to go.

If you use an alkaline fixer formula such as TF-3, you can use a plain water stop bath. Since the traditional recipe for Hypo Clear is Sodium Sulfite, plus some stabilizer, you can mix your own Sodium Sulfite solution, without stabilizer - and simply toss it when done. A large container of the powder is very affordable, compared to an equal amount of commercial preparation.

A helpful tip I got from Carl Weese: You will probably remember that in school Chemistry class, we used filter paper to hold the powder on the scale, and a special spoon as a scoop. Instead, you can use inexpensive cupcake papers and plastic spoons, available at the local grocery store. I have also purchased measuring vessels that are perfectly adequate, at the local discount stores, and use them in place of more expensive graduated cylinders.

I'm sure there are many other ways to save money and make things more fun. Perhaps others will share them.

[paulr]

A helpful tip I got from Carl Weese: You will probably remember that in school, we used filter paper to hold the powder on the scale, and a special spoon as a scoop. Instead, you can use inexpensive cupcake papers and plastic spoons, available at the local grocery store.

i just use plastic cups cocktail cups, like what you might bring to a picnic. they're designed to be disposable, but i like them because they can be rinsed and reused indefinitely. no special spoon ... just a set of measuring spoons. i don't use them to measure, just to scoop, but it's handy having different sizes.

[Jim Galli]

I do almost 100% of my own batching. An exception is Rodinal which I keep around for a formula I devised for Ortho lith film. I make up all of my own PcatHD from Sandy's original formula. A favorite paper dev. is Ansco 135. I like warm blacks. I almost always just use TF-4 rapid fixer from the Formulary. I've bought from Artcraft, Photoformulary, sellers on Ebay, and sadly Tri-Ess chemical in Burbank which is now gone. I use an Ohous quad beam scale that is accurate out to 10ths of a gram. Once upon a time I used to make up my own E-6 from dry chems. That required a PH meter with excellent accuracy. I finally threw in the towel on that one though. Inconsistencies were the only norm. It did have the effect of making the rest of this look painfully easy though

[David A. Goldfarb]

Another thing you can do for measurements you make repeatedly is to use a good graduate to calibrate another vessel, and just draw a line and mark it. If you've got all liquid solutions (like some of the color chemistry kits), you can even just mark several index marks on a jug or bottle for each solution.

[Nick_3536]

D-23,TF-2 and some times I try Lith developers. Plus C-41 developer. Oh I mix stop up do from vinegar. Does that count? -)

[Bill Kumpf]

Nick

It all counts........

Any trick, method, technique, formula, etc. that improves your darkroom work will help.

Thanks

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I mix everything from bulk. It is difficult for me to purchase prepackaged chemicals and with a few exceptions I can buy most of the chemicals cheaply and locally. My most recognizable mixes are Mytol (an Xtol subsititute) and Fixer (TF-2). My albumen and kallitype chemicals are all made from bulk (not like I have a lot of choice), as are my other more esoteric photographic endeavors.

There are a few salts (gold chloride, and some of the Cd salts) and chemicals (pyro, metol, collodion, et cetera) which I can't get locally. I buy these from Artcraft or Blake Ferris at Mostly Metals.

I learned the hard way not to go cheap on labware or scale. I bought a good .01g scale and buy labware and bottles from Carolina Biological Supply. Although it is a bit extreme, I keep a separate set of glassware for each of my processes.