Chapter XI: A Boy's Dark-Room

There is no reason why an industrious boy cannot do a profitable business with a camera, when he has learned to operate it successfully, does careful and neat work, and charges a reasonable price for his pictures. The many monthly photographic competitions in the magazines should be a great help in showing where his faults lie, and when he has overcome these he should be able to make considerable money from the cash prizes offered.

An amateur should master as much of the work as possible. One of the most interesting parts is missed if you pay a professional to develop your plates, and you never know where your faults have been made in taking the pictures, by not seeing the manner in which the image appears on the negative during the development. Even though you spoil one or two plates in your first attempts at developing, your results on the whole will probably be as good as those obtained by a professional, who is very often careless with amateurs' work.

No discussion of photography has been included in this book, as a complete treatise would be too lengthy, and a condensed description impractical. There are a number of excellent publications which describe the subject in detail, making it so clear that a boy cannot help but understand the principles with a little study. Few of these books, however, dwell upon the equipment of the dark-room, and none give a fellow any ideas for the making of his apparatus, generally an important item to a boy.

=The Necessary Equipment= for a dark-room is not large, about all you require besides your chemicals being a ruby lantern, printing frame, three trays,--one for developing, another for fixing, and a third for toning,--a two-inch camel's-hair brush for dusting plates, a drying-rack, glass graduate, funnel, set of scales, bottles for solutions, and a cabinet in which to keep your apparatus and supplies.

=A Dark-room= is not a necessity, although it is a great convenience, especially if you are doing much work. With the shades pulled down, you will find that your bedroom serves the purpose very well in the evening, and many boys do their work in this way.

Figure 168 illustrates how developing is carried on in a bedroom of an old-style house, where the wash-stands are set in recesses in the wall. Here a shelf made up of several boards fastened together with battens is set upon the marble slabs around the basin. In this shelf an opening four by six inches is made as shown in Fig. 170, the edges of the opening being rabbeted to receive a five-by-seven camera plate. This arrangement is very complete, for the developing is performed on the shelf, the fixing on the stand below, and the washing in the basin, while light from the lantern is projected through the glass in the shelf, making it light underneath.

This scheme can be used for any wash-stand, by nailing the shelf to two pieces of board twelve inches long by the width of the shelf, these pieces being set firmly upon the wash-stand.

Some boys use

=The Bath-room= for their dark-room, darkening the window and shutting out any rays of light that may come through the key-hole and cracks about the door. This works splendidly, there being running water at hand and the tub in which to wash the negatives. The work-table is made out of several boards battened together, and should be set across the edges of the tub.

Figure 169 shows

=Another Scheme=--a dark-room fitted up in a closet, or by partitioning off a corner of the attic or cellar. In the latter case the inside of the partition should be covered with black paper or cloth to prevent light from entering cracks in the boards. The room should be provided with

=A Work-table= about three feet high. This should be built against the wall and strongly braced, as shown in the sketch (Fig. 169). Fasten a shelf to the wall about nine inches below the table, and under this make a rack with three divisions in it for trays. The rack should be fastened to the braces, as shown in the drawing.

=Running Water= is a great convenience in a dark-room, as it saves the bother of having to carry water in pails, or transferring your plates to a tub or wash-basin for the final bath after development.

If it is impossible to locate your dark-room where it will be supplied with running water, the best scheme is

=A Water-tank= with hose attachment. This is shown in Fig. 169. To carry it out, procure from your grocer a "half-barrel," such as is used for the shipment of salt mackerel, etc., and, after thoroughly cleaning it, bore a hole in the side about two inches from the bottom. Buy at a drug-store several feet of rubber tubing, a rubber stopper with a hole cut in the centre, two pinch-stops, a six-inch piece of glass tubing bent at right angles, and a small glass funnel. Slip one end of the bent piece of glass tubing into the rubber stopper, and stick the latter in the hole made in the barrel. Then slip a short piece of the rubber tubing over the glass tubing, and place one of the pinch-stops on it to be used in regulating the supply of water from the tank (see Fig. 171). Set the barrel on one end of the table, and run the rubber tubing through a hole cut for it in the work-table.

FIG. 171.

FIG. 169.--A Well-equipped Dark-room.]

It is advisable to filter the water used from the barrel, that you may be sure it is free from dirt, so an arrangement similar to that shown in Fig. 171 should be fastened below the work-table. It consists of a glass funnel set in a hole bored in a block of wood (see _A_ in Fig. 171), which is suspended from the bottom of the work-table by means of a stick (_B_), one end of which is nailed to block _A_ and the other end to the work-table. Keep a piece of filter-paper in the funnel. The rubber tubing should be cut just long enough to reach the funnel, and the bottom of this filter should come within an inch or two of the sink, which will be set in the shelf below.

You will find an iron drip-pan about as cheap

=A Sink= as can be had, considering that one twelve by seventeen inches will cost you just fifty cents--twenty-five cents for the pan and an equal amount to pay a tinsmith for soldering a three-eighths inch pipe in a hole cut in the bottom for a drain. Either fasten the sink on the shelf, boring a hole for the pipe to fit in, or set it in an opening cut in the shelf, as shown in the drawing, supporting it by the rim around its top. Slip a piece of rubber tubing over the lower end of the drain pipe and to this attach the second pinch-stop as a regulator for emptying the sink (see Fig. 169).

As the water supply would be insufficient to wash the plates thoroughly after taking them from the hypo bath, it should be used for rinsing only, and

=A Washing-box=, after the scheme of Fig. 172, made to hold the negatives while washing them. This box will stand on the shelf beside the sink until you are through developing. The rack is made up of strips of wood fastened together with wire brads. Figure 173 clearly shows its construction. Strips _A_, _B_, _C_, and _D_ should be placed three and three-quarters inches apart for four-by-five plates, and kerfs should be cut in their edges as shown. _A_ and _D_ are mounted upon short stilts, and _B_ and _C_ are nailed to the uprights supporting the handle. The plates rest upon strips nailed across the bottom pieces.

This tray was made to hold two dozen plates, but may be made smaller if you wish.

The box should be just large enough for the tray to fit in. Fill all the cracks and joints with white-lead and give the box several coats of paint to make it perfectly water tight. Then make a hole in the side near the bottom to let the water out, and procure a cork to fit it (Fig. 174).

Before developing, cork up the washing-box, fill it with water, and set it in one end of the sink where the plates can be set in it after being taken from the fixing bath. When you are through developing, place the box and plates in the wash-basin or the bath-tub; remove the cork from the box and allow the water to run in at the top and out through the hole near the bottom. When the negatives have been thoroughly washed, the tray can be removed from the washing-box and used as

=A Drying-rack=.

Another scheme for a drying-rack easily made is shown in Fig. 175. For the construction, two pieces of wood twelve inches long by four inches wide will be needed (_A_ and _B_ in Fig. 175), also two blocks (_C_ and _D_) four inches square. Mitre one edge of _A_ and _B_, and cut a right-angled bird's-mouth in _C_ and _D_ to receive _A_ and _B_. With the pieces prepared, fasten them together as in the illustration. Then procure some corrugated straw-board, such as is used for packing glass-ware, etc., cut two pieces four by twelve inches, and tack them to _A_ and _B_ in such a way that the corrugations on one strip coincide with those on the other. For a simple rack this cannot be surpassed.

For chemicals, supplies, and apparatus, make

=A Cabinet= similar to the one described for tools in Chapter I, or the curio-cabinet in Chapter V. This makes it possible to keep everything in order and in places where they can easily be reached. Such a cabinet is shown on the wall in Fig. 169.

The best scheme for a dark-room

=Ruby-light= is shown in Fig. 169. This is practicable, however, only when you build the dark-room itself and can cut a window in the partition. It makes it possible to have your source of light outside of the room, and does away with the heat caused by having a lamp within, where you are working.

First, cut a ten-by-twelve-inch window opening in the partition on a level with the top of the work-table. Then make a frame a little larger than this opening and either set a piece of ruby or orange glass in it, or paste a sheet of ruby or orange paper over it. Build a track above and below the opening for the frame to slide in, doing the work neatly, so there will be no possibility of light leaking through.

The light, which may be a candle or lamp, should stand upon a shelf supported upon a bracket outside of the window. It is convenient to have the window slide, as it enables you to open it and have white light to work by when a ruby light is not necessary.

This window furnishes light for developing, which will be done upon the table, but none for the shelf below, where the sink is located and where the fixing tray should be kept (that there will be no danger of getting hypo into the developer). In order to have light for this shelf, you had better follow the scheme shown in Fig. 170. Cut an opening four by six inches in the work-table directly in front of the window, and make a half-inch rabbet around its upper edge to receive a five-by-seven camera plate (see Fig. 170).

If it is not possible to have outside light for the dark room,

=A Home-made Lantern=, such as is illustrated in Fig. 176, will be found very satisfactory. It is made out of a wooden box about ten by ten by twelve inches. Cut two openings six inches square in two sides of the box and cover one with one sheet and the other with two sheets of orange or red paper, spreading paste over the entire surface of the paper to make it stretch tightly over the openings as it dries. The orange and red wrappers of some makes of printing papers and developing powders can be used for the covering of these openings.

For a chimney, procure a long slender baking-powder can, remove the cover and bottom, and insert it in a hole cut for it in the top of the box. Then an arrangement must be made, as shown in Fig. 176, to prevent light from emitting from the top of the can. This consists of a tomato-can placed over the baking-powder can, bottom side up, with its edge fastened in kerfs cut in the ends of four wooden stilts (see illustration). Drive the stilts firmly into holes bored for them in the top of the box. The edge of the tomato-can should now be about an inch and one-half above the box, and its bottom an inch or more above the baking-powder can.

Below the chimney attach a wooden stilt to the bottom of the lantern, and tack a can cover to the top of it, as shown in the drawing. This forms a cup holder for the candle, which not only catches the drippings, but also makes the lantern fire-proof should the candle burn down to the end before you notice it. Bore a number of holes in the bottom of the box, and nail two strips to the under side, as shown.

The lamp is now completed with the exception of the door, which should be made in three pieces, with the edges cut and bevelled as shown in Figs. 176 and 177. Nail strips _A_ and _C_ to the back of the box, and slip _B_ between them. A screw-eye near the bottom of _B_ will serve as a lift in opening the lantern. As the edges of the strips are cut on a slant and bevelled, a joint which cannot possibly leak light is obtained when _B_ is slipped into place. All cracks in the box should be carefully filled with white lead.

In offering this lamp to his boy readers, the writer knows they will find it most satisfactory and a solution to the problem of making a perfect dark-lantern. The air admitted through the holes in the bottom of the box carries the heat and smoke straight into the chimney, and out through the space between the tin cans, making it impossible for the flame to ignite the wood.

If you use

=A Plate-lifter= you will find an old tooth-brush handle tapered at the end by means of a file one of the best that can be had.

It is well to have some scheme for

=Classifying and Preserving Negatives=.--To keep them in their original boxes is not a good idea, as there is always danger of scratching them and no satisfactory way of keeping track of their description, date of exposure, etc.

=Manila Envelopes=, with a printed form to be filled out, on the outside, are invaluable holders, as they not only make it possible to file away negatives in alphabetical order, but preserve them from dust, scratches, etc.

The four-by-five size can be bought for about twenty-five cents a hundred from a dealer in photograph supplies; but you can get them much cheaper by going to a paper house and asking for their four-by-five coin-cut manila envelope, which sells in half-thousand lots at about one dollar per thousand. If the quantity is more than you will need, you can probably dispose of a portion of them to your boy friends. With a printing-press or rubber type, the following form should be printed upon the outside, with a rule or space to the right in which to place the descriptions:--

NO.
DESCRIPTION
DATE
REMARKS

=A Wooden Case= to hold the envelopes is desirable, and such a one may be made similar to Fig. 178. For four-by-five negatives the inside of the box should measure twelve inches long, five and one-quarter inches wide, and three inches deep. It will hold about six dozen negatives.

Very light wood, about three-eighths of an inch thick, should be used for the construction of this case. Cut two pieces twelve and three-quarters by three and three-eighths inches for the sides, two pieces six by three and three-eighths for the ends, and one piece twelve by five and one-quarter for the bottom. In cutting the side-and end-pieces, mitre the edges of each so they will make neat corners. The mitre-box should be used for this purpose. Nail the pieces together with small finishing nails, after which fasten the bottom-piece between them, driving the nails through the side-pieces into it. The cover is made of a board twelve and three-quarters inches long by six inches wide, with a rim made of four inch-and-one-quarter strips nailed around its edge, as shown in the illustration. Two of the strips should be twelve and three-quarters inches long, and the other two six inches long. Their ends should be mitred and fitted together as the sides of the box were done, and the top should be nailed to their top edges. This cover fits over the plates, which project an inch above the sides. Hinge it to the back of the box, and attach a hook to the front.

If you do not keep your plates in envelopes, the sides of the box should be lined with corrugated straw-board to separate them. This may be tacked or glued to the wood.

By rubbing down the outside with emery-paper, oiling, shellacking, or varnishing the wood, a very pretty case will be obtained.

You will find it a simple matter to pick out a negative by having them filed in the order of their exposure, and catalogued alphabetically in a note-book.