Tools

This is my homemade paper press I made it from MDF offcuts from our local woodyard, the screw was taken from a G clamp, I sawed the threaded bush off with a hacksaw and filed it roughly into a circle. The screw was too long so I had to cut that down and re-drill it. My prints once dried go into the press to be flattened, separated with some acid free paper. And this is my contact printing frame I made it from some oblong section of timber with some square glued to the rear to make a rebate. The glass is from our local window place I asked for a piece with no marks on it and with the edges smoothed off. The back is two pieces of plywood hinged with some gaffer tape and some capillary matting glued to the inside, then the sheet of paper you can see in the pic and finally some wooden turnbuckles to hold it together. It holds a sheet of coated paper and the negative close enough together to make sure that they are in firm contact with each other My UV light source I bought this at a car boot sale in the 90's for about £5, the timer wasn't working and it had been in someone's loft for ages. I was quite surprised when I switched it on and it worked. Even more so when I got a print from it. I've used it ever since I did buy some spare tubes, one of those bargains on eBay that pops up from time to time, swapped them over but it didn't make any difference to the exposure time. This is my paper drier I made it from some card I rescued from a box. I coat the paper using one of those foam brushes and then slide it into the drier, usually three sheets at a time. It then goes into a cupboard with the open end against the wall. TOP