Many of our students have discovered the joys of developing their film in the convenience and privacy of their own home! If your schedule makes it difficult for you to get to the lab, or if you have been plagued by dust and scratch problems with the film that you have developed there, you may want to move the whole film-developing process into your kitchen or bathroom.

A major benefit here is cleanliness and the ability to hang your film up to dry in a controlled and relatively dust-free environment as opposed to the lab’s much-frequented film-drying cabinet. In order to develop your film at home, you will need:

-a film developing tank and reels
-or 3 beakers or graduates (any plastic or glass container with graduated markings to 16 ounces is fine, but use these only for film-developing).
-thermometer
-can opener & scissors
-clothespins and a clothesline. (String the clothesline across your shower or over your bathtub.)
-a completely dark place to load the film onto the reels and into the tank.
(A closet at night works well.) An alternative would be a small changing bag, available at most photo stores.
-a plastic funnel.
-a bottle of Photo-Flo concentrate.

You will also need chemistry. You may take home a quart each of the black and white chemicals from the lab: D-76 developer, film fixer and hypo-clear working solution in plastic or glass bottles. Label the bottles clearly and rinse thoroughly before filling.

Develop your film as you normally would, using your kitchen or bathroom sink. Make sure the chemicals are clearly marked; keep them away from food and from children and clean-up when you are finished. A few hints:

• Before starting, run the hot water in your shower for a few minutes to steam up the room. Then shut it off and start the process. The steam will cause the dust to drop out of the air and will provide a cleaner environment for film drying. You might want to also tape over any air-conditioning ducts in this bathroom since this can be a source of dust if the air-conditioner kicks on during the drying of the film.
  
• For best results, use a water bath (adjusted to the developing temperature) to hold all of your chemicals and your developing tank. (A small rubber dishpan works well.)
  
• Fix as you normally would. Use a funnel to return the fixer to the bottle. A quart of film fixer will safely fix up to twenty 36-exopsure rolls o film. After passing this quantity of film through this fixer, return it to the pail marked "used film fix" in the main area of the photo lab.
  
• You don’t need a special film-washer for the final wash if you use hypo-clear after the fix. This will reduce your washing time to five minutes. Simply fill and dump with running water adjusted to your developing process temperature for five minutes.
  
• After the Photo-Flo, hang your film to dry on a clothesline strung over the bathtub. Close the door and try to keep traffic to a minimum as the film dries. When completely dry, cut the negatives into strips and store in a plastic negative sleeves. In order to avoid impurities in the tap water from drying on the film, you may want to use purified or distilled water (from the supermarket) to make up the final Photo-Flo rinse.

KEEP ALL CHEMICALS OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN. Film fixer will last a long time without deteriorating in the bottle. D-76 developer will last anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months, depending upon how it is stored. To prolong the life of the developer, store it in a plastic, brown bottle and squeeze excess air out of the bottle before capping it. Do not use developer that has turned brown or which has a precipitate in it.