What is the Wratten number for that tail light tape?
Five bucks for a purpose-made safelight bulb is worth the money, no matter what your budget is, IMO. You could do it entirely in the dark, like with color, if you are really counting every penny. However, I think you will save more man-hours worth of money by working with a safelight than you will in cold hard money by not spending five bucks on a "proper" safelight bulb (and another five buck on a backup).
Also, I'd get an extra enlarger bulb or two. It stinks to be working on a print, have the bulb burn out, and have to wrap up until you go and get the bulb.
Next, I would get some Washaid/HCA. This will make for better washed prints in less time with the use of less water.
Do you have an easel? If not, you can get a used one cheap, and it will make things quite a bit faster. It is a necessity with fiber papers, unless you tape down the edges of each sheet!
For paper, do some askin' 'round about who the Arista papers are made by. All Arista papers and films are rebranded SOMETHING. If you want fiber with a warmish tone, Fotokemika Emaks (graded) and Varycon (multigrade) are good value papers.
You need at least a siphoning print washer, and to remove the trim ring from the faucet in your wash sink so you can attach the siphon. A purpose-made print washer would be better, but the siphons work fine, and can probably be had for about two pennies.
You might want a nice elevated chair or stool.
You will want some materials to make burning and dodging tools. Wire, black board, and tape. Or use your hands. I personally find tools to be more repeatable and easy to form exactly to the desired shape.
Black board for doing test strips.
A piece of glass for contact sheets and contact prints. Something from a cheap 11x14 picture frame would be fine for the contact sheets. You can make your own proofer with glass, something hard and flat for a base, and tape. For the contact prints, you might want to just wait for a little 4x5 purpose-made contact printing frame to turn up somewhere. They are fairly common if you keep your antennae out.
Tape. 3M photo tape or generic equivalent is a worthy investment with many uses, including holding down your negs. Gaffer tape is great for constructing makeshift tools (like your proofer) or holding things together (like the pieces that keep falling off of your weird enlarger
). Masking tape is great for making labels, notes, etc.
A second (and third) Gra-Lab timer are unnecessary, but are great convenience, and will run you about three cents. I use one for the enlarger, one for processing, and one in the other room for washing and film processing. Total spent on all three: $0.00. No need to rush out and find some, but keep your eyes peeled.
You may or may not want music. I like it.
You need to rig a way to dry your prints. Squeegee, squeegee board (piece of Plexi; make sure that the surface is not marred), yard sale oven racks, dish racks, screens, etc. Pretty easy to rig something for next to nothing (except your time). I have several cork strips installed on the walls, and I stick prints up to them with push pins, or straight into my drywall in the washing room.
You should have a rolling table or somewhere convenient to set things aside from the area immediately surrounding the enlarger. Also, a shelf or somewhere (away from the trays and water) to stow your paper and negatives *for the session* Don't store paper and negs in the darkroom normally.
You will probably appreciate it more than you realize if you have a way to control the room lights from a convenient position.
Various little details. Paper towels, graduates, mixing sticks, filtered funnel, chemical storage containers, masking tape and a Sharpie for labels, dish gloves, etc. You can improvise all of this stuff, but none of it really costs much, and it makes life quite a bit easier for you. Keep your eyes peeled on your local Craig's List. You may even end up with a much better enlarger (that can do medium format) along with all this stuff as part of a darkroom package.
Last, but not least, a notebook of easy to read size, and a pencil and eraser. Graphing paper can sometimes be nice for darkroom notes.
This is a lot of crap. But most of it is FREE, or very cheap, and quite helpful, thus a great *value*. The little things really matter when concentrating on something for hours. Ergonomics, not having to run back and forth unnecessarily, etc. This is all straight outta my butt, so I am sure others will add important things that I forgot.
On an entirely different note, I recommend against using Kodafix unless you have a specific need for a hardener. It is not necessary for modern films, and makes them a bit harder to thoroughly wash. You also don't want to harden before toning, and I prefer spotting non-hardened prints. I would use their standard fixer that comes as part A (fixer) and part B (hardener), and leave out part B. Or use an Ilford fixer, as they all come without hardener. (Hardener can be added to their Hypam.) You already have the Kodafix, and there is nothing wrong with using it. I used it for years before finding out that hardener is not needed. Just something to consider for next time. Make sure you read the instructions for dilutions, capacity, and warnings against using the same solution for both film and paper.
