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Whats a good material to make a light proof curtain?

GaryFlorida

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I am setting up a small darkroom in a bathroom and closet accross a narrow hallway. I have the dry side in the closet and the wet side in the bathroom.

I need a curtain in the hallway on one side to block light. Everything else is light tight. 8 ft ceilings, Hallway is 37" wide. I envisioned a adjustable curtain rod at the ceiling and an opaque curtain bunched up and pleated spanning the width and height of the narrow hallway.

I can also put another curtain in the next hallway to further reduce light making its way to the main curtain. I need to know a suitable material to make the curtain out of.

It will be nice this way as I can take the curtain down and roll it up on the rod and store it in the closet where the dryside is. Close the door and it looks like a normal house.
 
Black ripstop if using more than one layer would work. Any fabric store would bave it.
Commando (duvetyne) cloth is opaque but the dusty flame retardant fibers aren't pleasant up your nose. I dunno if it washes out or not.
 
but what do you mean by 4 panels? do you mean 4 ply?
 
After spending much money with trial and error I always used pond foil, available in different thicknesses and weights. It can be glued and taped, works with hook-and-loop tape. And it's cheap.


hth
horst
 
Go to a fabric store and get the white fabric designed to line curtains. It is called blackout liner. yes it is white but it works.
 
The drapers store near me in the UK sells black light proof blackout material, the cloth is light-tight but not too heavy. In my case I've used a single curtain using this cloth in a double layer to light proof the entrance door.

Any good drapers should have something similar.

Ian
 
google for "3 pass blackout" and you'll soon find what you need.
It usually comes in bolts 56" wide and can be bought cut by the metre for £3 or £4 per metre.
 
My wife made me curtains out of blackout clothe (available at most fabric stores); and sewed velcro tape on the sides. I then placed the matching velcro with glue side on the entrance. Its light-tight enough that I can change film during the day.
 
doughowk said:
My wife made me curtains out of blackout clothe (available at most fabric stores); and sewed velcro tape on the sides. I then placed the matching velcro with glue side on the entrance. Its light-tight enough that I can change film during the day.
Click to expand...

I went a similar route with my darkroom. Sewed a strip of velcro to the blackout cloth, went to hang it on the window and found I had a neat row of pinpricks of light streaming through
Next curtain, I used adhesive to attach the velcro
 
paul_c5x4 said:
I went a similar route with my darkroom. Sewed a strip of velcro to the blackout cloth, went to hang it on the window and found I had a neat row of pinpricks of light streaming through
Next curtain, I used adhesive to attach the velcro
Click to expand...

what about that Doug? how did you escape the pin pricks that hold the velcro on?

great info on this thread thanks everyone.
 
Black trash or lawn bags bags (the thicker the material the better), scissors, duct tape and push pins. Most people already have the scissors, push pins and duct tape, and the leftover lawn bags can be used for that or trash, so the cost is essentially nothing. For the gaps at the top of the door and at floor level I just use rolled up towels.

If your room is tiled the push pins won't work. so use that wide blue painters tape. It will pull off w/o leaving a residue, and you can use it over and over until the stickiness is gone, then use fresh tape.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
GaryFlorida said:
but what do you mean by 4 panels? do you mean 4 ply?
Click to expand...

Rod pocket curtains are sold by certain width panels and one buys as many panels as one wishes. The usual reason is the aesthetic of how many folds are seen across the curtain. Too few folds are chinsy looking.
In this case more folds make it easier to close up tight at the edges and where you want to walk through, sort of like not stretching out your bellows too much.
they are called blackout curtains.
 
Gary,

There was a similar question recently. My solution having two doors in my darkroom was to get blackout cloth from a fabric store in a width and length larger than the openings. I got two decent sized dowel sticks for each door at Home Depot and attached the dowels to each end of the cloth. I placed two "L" hooks above each door and when needed just lay the top dowel over the hooks and unroll and the bottom dowel rests on the floor and keeps the cloth in place. When not needed just roll up the cloth like a scroll. It has worked for me for 39 years both loading and developing film and printing.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/
 

Ok but you have actual doors right? and you are just using the scroll to cover the light around the edges of the doors right? or are you using just the scroll over an open door opening to block out all the light?
 
In Spain (and in other european countries as well) there is a material called Foscurit. It is 99% opaque, very light and handable and fire retardant. It is very easy to clean. It is sold in Leroy-Merlin stores (a DIY chain-shop all over Europe). I have recently sealed my darkroom with it.
 

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Rubberised cloth as used for blackout curtains: it is heavy, and can greatly increase the ambient temperature in your darkroom, but it is very efficient at keeping out, light, and absorbing stray light.
Any good curtain shop should be able to get some in, even if they don't stock it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
A good size yardage store should have good blackout cloth. You can always order blackout cloth via the internet.
 
I found the ultimate material at Walmart. Its called Pro Tuff Outdoor Fabric. It is black and rubberized back. Very flexible and totally light proof. And only 4.99 per linear yard. Sadly they only had 7 feet and I need 9 feet. Their computer says they have 36 feet but they dont and the computer wont order any more until they are low. So I have to call up the manager during the day and get the inventory adjusted so more will be shipped to the store. Anyway. This is the material I have been looking for.
 
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