Suffering for my art...darkroom mishap

David_Manning

David_Manning

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Again,

Here I am at the RFF confessional.

I was spooling a roll of Tri-X in a light-tight bathroom and the spooling was giving me some difficulty. My body temperature must have been elevating with the frustration, and I reached over to flip the exhaust fan on to get some air circulating. You guessed it...turned on the overhead lights!

CR%P !!!

I lost about two-thirds of the roll. :bang:

This must be what they mean when they say we suffer for our art!
 
David_Manning said:
Again,

Here I am at the RFF confessional.

I was spooling a roll of Tri-X in a light-tight bathroom and the spooling was giving me some difficulty. My body temperature must have been elevating with the frustration, and I reached over to flip the exhaust fan on to get some air circulating. You guessed it...turned on the overhead lights!

CR%P !!!

I lost about two-thirds of the roll. :bang:

This must be what they mean when they say we suffer for our art!
Click to expand...
Dear David,

Commiserations.

Cut a film canister in half.

Tape it over the light switch.

Guess how I worked this one out...

Cheers,

R.
 
Yeah, I was reeling up some film a few years back right next to my enlarger, and accidently turned the damn thing on! Needless to say, that ruined the entire roll.
 
In 1981 I had spooled up, from bulk, two cassettes of Tri-X when my girl friend of the time told me that the orange safe-light was switched on and the bottle of whisky was empty.
 
This story makes me think I ought to install a light switch in my darkroom that feels very different from an ordinary switch--to remind me. Airplane cockpits often have a differently shaped switch for each function to avoid confusion. I think a rotary dimmer switch might be a good idea for a darkroom. The diffent shape might be enough to make me stop and think before using it.
 
I've come dangerously close to doing the same. Dunno about a changing bag for spooling, the cure might be worse than the disease. I like Roger's idea. Or trip the GFCI, assuming the light's on the same circuit.

Thanks for posting, David.
 
a good reason for the clumsy among us to use digital or leave their processing to a good lab. or, at least that's my lame excuse for extreme laziness.

anyway, I think your title should have been "my art suffers from me." you're fine, it's your work that bore the brunt of this. happens to the best of us, or least those hardy enough to play with chemicals.
 
My current darkroom has no switch by the door. To turn on "white" light - you have to navigate in the dark to a switch over the main sink! This stops mishaps like that!! Darkrooms are prone to mishaps at the best of time - so any thing that cuts it down is good.
Short list of recent ones: Dropping a 120 roll in the garbage can while loading reels!
Mixing up exposed and unexposed film and running 2
unexposed rolls with the exposed ones!
Some years ago one Gralab 300 timer fell into the fixer - I
unplugged it and washed it off - still works!
Mis=reading a container read Meta Bisulphite - and it was
Carbonate - lost 15 rolls and swore a lot!
Darkrooms are havens for gremlins - they sit around and wait for you to turn off the light - and then they pounce!
 
But just think how nice - to sit in the back yard...arms in the bag....pipe in mouth...and the little lady putting a beer on the patio table! :p
 
Worst mishap. Forgetting that I had already loaded an 8 reel tank and opening it up with the lights on :bang: Fortunately, only the topmost rolls were completely ruined.
 
While I was at Polytechnic, we set up a student photo-club darkroom. There were safe lights and normal lights, both operated by sensible pull switches that were separated, one on each side of the door . . . Eventually, when every single user had pulled the wrong string at least once, the swearing decreased.
 
"...arms in the bag....pipe in mouth...and the little lady putting a beer on the patio table!"

Not to speak of the prehensile feet...
 
Rob-F said:
This story makes me think I ought to install a light switch in my darkroom that feels very different from an ordinary switch--to remind me. Airplane cockpits often have a differently shaped switch for each function to avoid confusion. I think a rotary dimmer switch might be a good idea for a darkroom. The diffent shape might be enough to make me stop and think before using it.
Click to expand...

Dear Rob,

Well, yes, in a darkroom (I thought the original was in a bathroom). Our darkroom white light is controlled by a string-pull which comes down from the switch about 6 inches, runs through an eye, and then runs horizontally for about four feet. Impossible to confuse with any other switch.

Cheers,

R.
 
Dave Wilkinson said:
I have never had a problem!.....always do this job with both arms in a big black bag!:)
Click to expand...

Well, I use the bag all the time but twice I remember getting the film onto the reels, reels onto the centre spindle and then --- where's the lid to the tank :eek:

Actually grabbed the lid through the bag and locked myself in a cupboard to fix it one time, and did it under the bed covers the other :bang: Think there my have been whiskey involved there somewhere too
 
craygc said:
Well, I use the bag all the time but twice I remember getting the film onto the reels, reels onto the centre spindle and then --- where's the lid to the tank :eek:

Actually grabbed the lid through the bag and locked myself in a cupboard to fix it one time, and did it under the bed covers the other :bang: Think there my have been whiskey involved there somewhere too
Click to expand...

It's amazing how we have all been through the same experience. I actually went into the closet and took out the reel. It was a test roll so nothing much lost.

One time, the better half was irritated by the fumbling/swearing, and offered to buy me a digital camera. :p
 
Just three days ago I forgot to put the tank into the changing bag, after loading the reel .... :bang: I was lucky, that I could "wrap" the reel light tight inside the changing bag, remove my hands to put the tank into the bag, and finish the procedure.... No shots lost but I won't forget ... (Actually, a couple of beers were involved :D)
 
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