I learned printing by making test-strips. It's fine if you have only few negs to go though, but when there's many, it is a waste of time and paper. So?
Last few printing sessions I have, I have weened myself from the test-strips.
Now I expose all sheets 30s. I only change the aperture, sometimes during exposure when I see the neg being lit. I also do the dodging/burning straight on the first sheet.
Then I dunk the paper in developed face down with continuous agitation. Count to 30s, turn the print face up while keeping counting and look for changes in the image. I stop the development as soon as I thinks its fine. I only wasted 2 sheets for 64 prints! Max development time is 1 mn, but more commonly between 40 to 50s.
I also found that this way requires more attention and makes the whole process more interesting. I'd like to call it: "action printing".
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