Washing prints with limited water

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Black_and_White_Photography : One Thread

Is there any alternative way to wash prints which does not involve running water? I'll be using Ilford MG IV RC. In my makeshift darkroom, running water will be a problem because I don't have a big sink. Any hints would be appreciated.

By the way, I'd like to thank you all for making this one of the most helpful internet forum's out there (on any topic). I started getting ready to set up a darkroom before I came across this site and was really surprised when I found it. The posts here have been very helpful.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 1997

Answers

Washing prints

Hi Mike welcome to the forum.

You should have a look at Dan Smith's response to a similiar question I had. It's about 2/3 of the way down the list and is titled 'Response to RC paper'. He gives a protocol for soaking FB prints that should be easy to adapt to RC.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 1997


Limited water for washing problem

I assume you mean you have a sink in the darkroom, but it's not big enough to set your washing tray or apparatus in. You still my be able to use running water by jury-rigging a system with hoses or tubing. That is, if you can set your wash tray near the sink, then you could use a hose attachment to the water spigot to get water into the tray. A second hose attached near the top of the tray would siphon off water back into the sink rather than have it spill over the top of the tray (and all over your darkroom). I expect some print washers (as opposed to trays) are actually set up to work this way, or could be rigged to work this way. You may have to mess around with hose attachments and flow rates to prevent overflow and floods, but I expect it can be done if you want continuous running water.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 1997

See the answer by "anonymous" to the question "Archival Print Washer" at the bottom of the list. The cascade print washer uses less water than other washers. The only way to wash prints without running water is to agitate them in a tray, dump the water, refill, and repeat the procedure for at least 10 times. The use of hypo eliminator will reduce washing iterations, and therefore, reduce the amount of water, time and effort.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 1997

Moderation questions? read the FAQ