Making my darkroom more accessible

[mehguy]

I don't have a dedicated place for a darkroom so I use the laundry room. The bathroom was too small and everything was everywhere when I tried using it as a darkroom. The problem is that the time I spend trying to set it up, is probably just as much time I would spend in the darkroom. Now, the main problem is blocking out light. the laundry room has a window and I need a good and easy way to cover it up. There are blinds on the window, but where the blinds ravel up, its hard and frustrating to cover the light up there. Also, there is a door in the room and I need a better way to cover up the light from the edges of the door.

Any suggestions?

 

[pdeeh]

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[bdial]

The door should be easy to resolve with some weather stripping and a sweep on the bottom from the home center. For the window, there are also a lot of solutions. Some plywood cut to the size of the opening is the easiest, but offers the least flexibility.

 

[John Koehrer]

Similar to the plywood solution, cardboard. Free, easy to cut, easy to replace. A piece of felt or velvet along the edges
to block minor light leaks. Gaffers tape to make a handle to remove it with.
door...as bdial suggests. Or just a cloth curtain around the edges to block light. A sweep or even rolled up towel at the bottom.

RE curtain, fabric about 3-4" wide attached to the outside of the DR. Inside if the door swings outward.

 

[Sirius Glass]

In my wet darkroom, the master bathroom I use a plywood board cut to the shape of the window and with blackout cloth on the window side. The blackout cloth extends beyond the window and is taped down with gaffers tape.
In my dry darkroom I put cardboard against the blinds and I attached the blackout cloth with Velcro strips.
For the doors I attach the blackout cloth to the top edge of the door jamb with Velcro strips and use gaffers tape to hold the blackout cloth on one side of the door.

 

[gone]

Doors are surprisingly easy, as I was happy to discover. Just stuff a towel into the top, and two blankets on either side to hang down to the floor. You may have to thumb tack them on the sides or tape them to keep things light tight. A rolled up towel on the bottom completes the fix. You can do this quickly.

I ended up taking the blinds down in the bedroom windows when I was ready to print. Then I made up two large squares from screwed together 1x1s that were bigger than the windows, ran a cross brace across them, and stapled a couple of layers of cardboard to the squares and painted them. Each square panel rested on a 2x2 that was screwed horizontally into the wall under the window, and two teacup holder 'U' hooks were placed on either side of the panel into the wall at middle height. You just hold the big square panel up, rest it on the 2x2, and take a bungee cord and attach that to the 2 'U' hooks on either side. It will pull up tight to the wall. There may be small light leaks on the edges, but you can hang towels or the wife's clothes on hangers. It took maybe 10 minutes to light proof our bedroom when it was time to print.

In the new place, I am simply going to wait until it's dark :}

 

[Neal]

Dear mehguy,

I used door weatherstripping products to block the light in my old bathroom darkroom. My current darkroom is my garage. Dead Link Removed works great for the windows, but I have the luxury of leaving it in place. Dead Link Removed might be easier to use when rigging up something that is less permanent. Keep in mind that if you're willing to do all your film transfer in a changing bag, you can be a little less than perfect when blocking out light.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

 

[Wayne]

Black visqueen takes seconds to hang and remove with push pins or tape or whatever you choose to attach it with. You could even just hang it over the door when you close it.