Tried to develop my own film in the bathroom and ended up with orange streaks everywhere

Last Saturday I set up a makeshift darkroom in my tiny apartment bathroom with a changing bag and a Paterson tank. Loaded up some Tri-X I shot at a flea market downtown, but I guess I didn't seal the tank lid right because developer leaked out and stained the sink bright orange. Spent the next hour scrubbing with bleach, and the negatives came out with these weird streaks across half the frames. Anyone else ever botch their first home development session this bad?

2 comments

2 Comments

karenw9011d ago

Oh man, that orange sink story is way too familiar haha! I once tried developing in my kitchen and ended up with developer all over my white countertops. Now I line the whole area with trash bags like some kind of mad scientist. The streaks on your negatives might actually look kind of cool for some artsy flea market shots though!

jesseb2011d ago

Ugh, is it really that big of a deal though? You scrubbed it with bleach and it came off, right? So the sink is fine. And the streaks on the negatives, i mean, Tri-X has grain anyway and flea market shots aren't exactly museum pieces. Sounds like you're making this into a bigger disaster than it actually is. Did you even mess up the development time or temperature or just have a leaky tank? People act like a little orange stain is the end of the world when you can just buy a bottle of bar keepers friend for five bucks. Maybe just don't try to be Ansel Adams in a bathroom that barely fits a toilet.