simple paper developers ?

[jay moussy]

fantastic!!
thanks . we have lots of pine needles here

Sell them!
We have a goofball, here, on Cape Cod, selling his pine needles on CL - wait until he hears about photo developing applications.. prices will go up!

 

[esearing]

If you have some Pyrocat sitting around you can mix it 10:8:1000 and get a couple of prints out of it, if you don't mind a bit of paper staining. I would expect the pine needles to stain too but maybe not if they are green. They certainly change the color of my pond water.

 

[removed account4]

Once upon a time Rodinal was also occasionally used to develop paper.

Anyway you've got options but honestly since you have the necessary ingredients just make some D-72. The measurements don't need to be perfect.

I've never used rodinal, never used tea, never used pyro or its cousin, pyrocat ...
I know I can make the d72, I really only want to use a couple of ingredients, not 5 or 6 of them. .. I'm tired of complicating and making complicated things.

 

[Down Under]

Hydroquinone, Metol, sodium sulfite, KBr, maybe a couple other things. You have a "universal kit" that will last forever. All anyone really needs is D52, D72 and D76 to cover everything.

Perfecto!! This is what I've been saying to all the young darkroom workers I've met in the past 30 years.

Now what to do with the kilo of Phenidone I have stored...

 

[Down Under]

can anyone tell me if there are any simple paper developers, like 2 simple ingredients ( a la D23 for film )
ive run low on my standbys and I don't want to deal with mail order or going to my local store to buy something
if I can make something simple here.

I've looked through the recipe / resources section and everything is so like lots of ingredients... any suggestions ?

Has nobody in your group of caffenol-addicts come up with a coffee-based paper developer? And if not, why not?

I'm getting ready to revive my experimenting with caffenol (last time I looked into it was in 2011 or therabouts) and this thought just hit me. If good for film, why not paper?

(Or is that already dealt with in the Caffenol Cookbook and I've somehow missed it?)

 

[john_s]

You need a minimum of 3 (metol, sulfite, carbonate) and probably some KBr to control fog, so call it 4. Not so bad.

The time it would take to open the jar of hydroquinone would be saved many times over with faster paper development.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

You need a minimum of 3 (metol, sulfite, carbonate) and probably some KBr to control fog, so call it 4. Not so bad.

I'd say, You'll need a minimum of four; a development agent, an accelerator, preservative and a restrainer any less and you traded print quality for simplicity.

 

[mshchem]

Perfecto!! This is what I've been saying to all the young darkroom workers I've met in the past 30 years.

Now what to do with the kilo of Phenidone I have stored...

Ilford has wonderful Phenidone paper formulas

 

[koraks]

If good for film, why not paper?

Because it stains the paper base and the emulsion. It'll be hopeless with fiber based paper and still annoyingly compromised with RC/PE.

 

[pentaxuser]

ozmoose, see my #11 post. It may help Joe van Cleave in his video on Ilford Direct Paper(FB) used caffenol, did not like the stain but found that it disappeared after about 30 mins in water. His is another video worth a look if you want to expand your knowledge of the uses of caffenol

pentaxuser

 

[tezzasmall]

"Recipe:
1. Boil a small bunch of pine needles in 8 ounces of tap water for a few minutes, then allow to cool.
2. Add 4 teaspoons of arm and hammer washing soda.
3. Add 1/2 teaspoons of iodized salt. (optional) The salt was added to slow down the development time.
4. Chilled to 20c/68f degrees. Works at room temperature at an faster development time.
5. Tray develop under a safe light."

Wow! Now there's a combination that I haven't seen or tried yet!

I am surrounded by pine trees in the local area.

And just before I read this formula, I've 'applied' to join the paper negs group on FB which is 'private', to get the recipe just added... It may be an interesting site but I've never understood this 'private' group function, especially when most of the groups subjects are not particularly secret...?

Terry S

 

[tezzasmall]

Sell them!
We have a goofball, here, on Cape Cod, selling his pine needles on CL - wait until he hears about photo developing applications.. prices will go up!

I too am surrounded by them - so what does he sell the needles as being good for? I'm really curious now.

Terry S

 

[removed account4]

Has nobody in your group of caffenol-addicts come up with a coffee-based paper developer? And if not, why not?

I'm getting ready to revive my experimenting with caffenol (last time I looked into it was in 2011 or therabouts) and this thought just hit me. If good for film, why not paper?

(Or is that already dealt with in the Caffenol Cookbook and I've somehow missed it?)

hi ozmoose

I have been on the outs with some of the caffenol addicts since the beginning because im not a purist type ( gets me in trouble on this website too it seems ). not sure what they are doing these days or ( or did ) ... maybe (hopefully) they have strayed away from the dreaded scale and into the weeds ... their blogs certainly seemed active and they had a lot of names for their different developers, maybe there's one in there that was used for prints ? I just used the eyeball measured caffenol, nothing fancy, the teaspoon / table spoon got to be annoying because I was making more than 8oz at a time. YMMV

 

[jay moussy]

I too am surrounded by them - so what does he sell the needles as being good for? I'm really curious now.

Terry S

No idea. He may not even have any takers.
Only applications I can think of would be re-balancing a nitrogen-rich compost pile, more likely, animal bedding, or possibly lining walkways?

 

[removed account4]

No idea. He may not even have any takers.
Only applications I can think of would be re-balancing a nitrogen-rich compost pile, more likely, animal bedding, or possibly lining walkways?

they are good for sleeping on like a mattress, beats sleeping on rocks and roots

 

[removed account4]

John, do you have any desired outcome here? I mean other than using the fewest possible ingredients, do you care about capacity or development time? And what is an acceptable number of ingredients?

If you’re dead set against 4 ingredients is 3 ok? You could try the “spoon” (no scale) version of D-23 (2 ingredients) and add some bromide as needed to prevent fog. I don’t know how long the development times would be for papers but you could try it.

Incidentally most developers need water. Does that count as an ingredient?

thanks for your concern Michael
I think I have what I need, thanks !
not sure what I will do, but at least I have a starting point

 

[pentaxuser]

they are good for sleeping on like a mattress, beats sleeping on rocks and roots

Yes. A true but irrelevant story follows: We fed a completely feral tomcat for a number of years who was so feral he would not allow you near him. You had to leave the food and go back inside before he'd eat. Well he survived several winters living in a bed of pine needles in a row of conifers just beyond the house

pentaxuser

 

[Down Under]

Ilford has wonderful Phenidone paper formulas

Noted with thanks. I will put all the Phenidone I have to good use, for as long as it lasts and even if I'll need several lifetimes to use up the container... I've yet to see a Phenidone-based paper developer - if such a mix exists, does anyone have the recipe? So for the time being I will make do with it for films and go on mixing my own D72.


Koraks (#37) and pentaxuser (#38) - many thanks for your comments. I will have to do some experimenting but will delay until our too-long winter Down Under has passed and the weather has warmed up a bit. If anything noteworthy comes out of it, I'll post.


John (jnants, #41), thanks also for your comments. I Googled and downloaded what I hope is the latest rewrite of the Cafenol (Caffeinated?) Cookbook last weekend and noted your name is still on the list of contributors, so at least they are acknowledging your involvement and the efforts you've made. Like you, I tend to err on the Just Enough Is Good Enough side of things and even my home-brewed D76 and Dektol often has small 'adjustments' made to it, so far without any monumental film processing disasters, paper prints can always be redone but if I ruin a film, unless I go out and reshoot (which annoys my partner and our cats, but so far everyone at home plays along, so!).

 

[koraks]

I've yet to see a Phenidone-based paper developer - if such a mix exists, does anyone have the recipe?

ID-68
http://www.lostlabours.co.uk/photography/formulae/developers/devID68.htm

 

[grain elevator]

I've yet to see a Phenidone-based paper developer - if such a mix exists, does anyone have the recipe?

E-72:
https://home.alphalink.com.au/~simgrant/jackspcs/pde72.htm

 

[jvo]

geez, John... since when did not having developer stop you from making an image!!!!

the only person I know who could use toothpaste, broken coke bottle, and used motor oil and make a respectable image.

 

[removed account4]

thanks James ! . yea I am a bit of a mccgyver. LOL
=

in case anyone wanted to know what I ended up doing. ..
long version. ... years ago while in France I didn't know I could evaporate water out of. baking soda to convert it to washing soda
and the only place I could find sodium carbonate was at the pharmacy. it cost me my big toe and now I walk with a limp.
I never got rid of the container and a few years ago I put a bunch of chemicals ( black glycin sod. sulfite, metal, HQ sodium carb. and KBr ) in there
and with a laundry scoop would just scoop out a little bit into a tray and add water ... I realized I had enough chemistry to do the same thing again
so I used a teaspoon and loaded it up with chemicals ( and black glycin ) and shook it all up and used the scoop and it seemed to work well
short version ... I made some more black dust..

 

[Robert Maxey]

Perhaps the simplest thing would be to just figure out a teaspoon version of a developer. Paper develops of course don't have to be that accurate. Something with Ascorbic Acid and Metol should be easy. E72 is a decent one that is supposed to use Phenidone but you can use Metol instead.

1 tablespoon=15 grams

https://www.fieldmag.com/articles/how-to-develop-film-with-coffee-caffenol-guide

"By the end of this article, you’ll have all the steps needed to develop film at home with instant coffee and water softener."

Just sayin'

Bob

 

[removed account4]

1 tablespoon=15 grams

https://www.fieldmag.com/articles/how-to-develop-film-with-coffee-caffenol-guide

"By the end of this article, you’ll have all the steps needed to develop film at home with instant coffee and water softener."

Just sayin'

Bob

hey bob
1tablespoon=15grams I think it depends on what you are measuring
1 tablespoon of Ferric Ammonium Citrate (green) weighs almost noting compared to 1tablespoon of Potassium Ferricyanide ..

Great link!
I've been using caffenol as pretty much my main film ( and sometimes paper ) developer since my friend Whitey sent me an email that said "hey check this out I think you might like this " back in 2006 ... since then I've done it on a couple continents, used a variety of different instant coffees ( el gringo from leclerc supermarkets in France is hands down, the best ), dehydrated baking soda ( and used baking soda ), found super cheap and super over priced Vit c, and for the past IDK 13 years I've been roasting my own coffee beans (and sell them ) to use as sumatranol beans. Much to the dismay of caffneol purists I add about 15-20cc's of whatever print developer I have lying around ( its usually d72 or ansco 130 ) I even contributed to the Caffenol-Cookbook.com .. I love caffenol, its a great developer, easy as 1-2-3. no nonsense ( as long as you have the right ingredients ) and no real need to measure ingredients as long as you know the proportions and easily as good as a lot of name brand film developers.
I hope you've tried it!