Darkroom Chemical mixing for part ratio

Darkroom Mixing

 Darkroom chemical mixing to some can be  a bummer. Look if your new or wanting to start a darkroom one of the hardest things to find out is what/how to mix the chemicals. I never said I was a genius at mixing and it can be  a daunting task to a lot of mathematical challenged people.

    If you read the flyer on the chemical bottle or go to the dev chart and start reading and get confused don't stop there. It's actually not to hard to figure out. You need to know several things first, what is the size of the bottle your pouring mix into. I make small batches, I use the 354ml brown bottles. Next is the ratio for Developer, Stop, Fixer, I know these are stated on the flyer of the bottles. Developer from Ilford is 1 to 9 and we are only going to  use this example but the principal remains the same  for the rest. So, 1 to 9 parts.....crap head hurts...but mush through this you can do it.

     Take out your smart phone and click the calculator and take 354 and divide it by 9, that will get you 39.3 and I round up to 40. Now pour 40ml of developer into your measuring cup.Then  pour that into your brown bottle. Now add 354 ml of water to your 40ml that you just poured. Now your first chemical is mixed and repeat process for stop,fixer,photo flo and what ever else.

    This is also for processing your film and also for processing/prints in your darkroom. I highly recommend you follow the Dev chart if processing film and follow the bottles directions if making prints.

    I made a horrible video for you to watch.

   So, here it is again. 354÷9=40............40 added to 354= mixed.

Bonus:  

 Please remember that you are mixing parts and you will need to adjust. Depends on age chemicals, paper, film etc...this is not an exact technique and you can cause errors. Always rely on safety as well, you are mixing things. Mark your bottles well and trays as well. I always make a little extra developer  to add as I print to help keep up spent developer.  Now that's whole another blog in it's self.Developer....pffttt
Some links :Analog film group
Devchart