Experiments in Eco-Processing

Blog 2018 April

April 3, 2018

Red Grapes Concentrate

Last month I noticed that my red grape juice was very week and decided to make a more concentrated juice using more grapes, less water, and squeezing the juices out of the grapes. The concentrated grape juice was a much more effective tint.

Though I had a good recipe with the concentrated grape developer, the reversal process proved to be inconsistent but with some fun results. I even had a strange yellow tinge form on some of the frames.

Concentrated Grape Eco-Reversal Test #1

Concentrated Grape Eco-Reversal Test #2

April 6, 2018

Back to Mint

Because I read that mint was similar to caffenol, I decide to use the same measurements for washing soda and vitamin C that are in caffenol. I didn’t have much mint on hand so I decided to use half of recipe for the mint test – 500ml instead of the usual litre of developer and then half the washing soda and vitamin C.

The first test was very good.

I then decided to see if this recipe behaved similar to the caffenol developer time. It did not.

I tried various times and temperatures all with slightly less than stellar results.

During these tests I was wondering if the fact that I was using 500ml of developer had something to do with the results. As I am finding when I process a lot of film in a reversal I get different results than when I do a test strip - perhaps the ratio of developer to film has something to do with the results?

For tests #6 and #7 I increased the temperature substantially and received better, denser results. In test #7 you can see part of the "waterline" on the film. When developing, the film perforations (perfs) should always face down into the spiral reel. If the tank was loaded with the perfs facing up and not in the grooves of the lomo tank, a good portion of the film would have lines from the spiral reel on part of the image. I think the "waterline" in Mint Test #7 was caused in part because I was only using 500ml of developer and in part because I didn't agitate the film frequently enough.

Mint Test #6

Mint Test #7

April 10, 2018

Going forward onto reversal bleach. The first two tests were on the hot side (40°C and 38°C) and didn't render much of an image but some interesting results. I was also running low on hydrogen peroxide so I decide to reuse the bleach.

The next test was substantially cooler at 27°C using the same reversal bleach, bubbling fun! Test four was user error. I misread the recipe and processed the first developer at 37°C for about a minute and half. Realizing the mistake, I then drained the developer and cooled it back down to 27°C, which took about 7 minutes during this time the film probably had residual developer on it. I processed the rest of the film according to my original recipe and got the test 4 results. It is always better to process film when you are well rested.

Very pleased with both of the mint tints.

Despite the tint results mint is proving to be much more difficult than I anticipated. Mint seems the least stable plant that I have experimented with so far...a bit more research is needed. In the meantime onto… green string beans.

April 12, 2018

Green String Beans

I wasn't sure how the developer with the beans would turn out, as the green bean tea was quite pale but I was very pleased with the first couple of tests!

April 30, 2018

Another green bean test, with beautiful results! This bean tea had been sitting around for a few weeks but it was still quite potent.

Green bean test #3:

Reversal had equally remarkable results.

The green bean “beam” tints were not "beaming" at all. After soaking for 8 days, there were not any noticeable results. The only significant event was that the tint that was soaking in the stain without the alum slipped right off of the film when it was rinsed.