my explosive caffenol-c incident

Well, today, for shits and giggles, I decided to do a test: I wanted to see what would happen if I used caffenol-c as the second developer for my reversal process. I found a recipe for caffenol-c on the internet, mixed everything up in a bowl, then poured it in a water bottle to use. My water this time a year is almost exactly 20C, so I didnt have to wait but a few minutes for the chemicals to reach 20C in a water bath (my distilled water for mixing my chems is in my house, which stays around 21C all year).

When it was time to do my second developer, I could feel a lot of pressure had built up in the caffenol bottle. I tried to slowly open the bottle to gradually release the pressure, but when I opened the lid enough the pressure released all at once, shooting coffee developer all over me and my shed. Needless to say, the second developer step didnt happen.

I have the film hanging in my bathroom now. It's just a bunch of random shots around the house, so I havent lost anything. I might just run it through the first developer and bleach steps next time I develop a roll of slides. Maybe the few dollars I get when I do a silver recovery when my container gets full will relieve the dissapointment of failed caffenol slides

sorry for your troubles
what happens is that the carbonate and vit c mix and often times
give off bubbles, foam and heat. by capping your bottle you,
shook the bottle of soda
it WILL work if you mix it and don't put a cap on the bottle ..

good luck !

john

I noticed it was getting warm when I was mixing in the kool-whip bowl. After I got everything mixed, I assumed whatever reaction was taking place was over so I poured it in the bottle and capped it. I put the cap on (as I do with my other chems) so they wont spill if they tip over. I'm not upset or anything. I actually found it quite humerous.

I'll have to wait till next weekend at least before I can try again, though. I'm curious to see how Caffenol devloped slides will look. If I have too many more incidents, I might give up on the project and use caffenol for regular negs.