Developing & Organizing...Next Week the Darkroom

Coming back from vacation is a busy time! I have developed three 135 rolls of film and four 120 rolls of film. In the process I have mixed new developer, fixer and stop bath. I have been scanning film, mowing lawns and getting some office work done. I have gotten prints made, framed them and hung them up. It has been busy to say the least!

So I am trying something new with regard to mixing developer.  Let me explain. I have been using Ilford ID-11 for a long time now. I like the developer as it is available in a powder form which allows me to make a 5L jug at a time. The last time I made developer was in January of this year.  Here we are in April and the developer is still working great.

I was down to my last liter of ID-11 so it was time to mix some more. I already had the powder in my cabinet so I began mixing it by following the directions. I then took my last liter of old developer and mixed it in with the new one. This last bit is the new step. When developer is fresh it seems to make very harsh contrast. I tried to mix the last liter of the old developer in with the new to soften it up a bit. I processed two rolls and I am very happy with the results. 

I mixed new stop bath and new fixer as well. On top of the chemical preparation, film development and the honey do list, I also sent off a couple of digital pictures to be printed. I am thrilled with the results of the prints but will go into that in some other post. 

My plan is to spend this weekend developing and spend one day next weekend in the darkroom making some prints. I am hopeful that I will be able to make a little photo book of the film images so that I can share with family. With a little luck it might just happen!

Short post today but too much to do.  Hope you are all having a great weekend and manage to get a few pictures worth keeping!