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Children Keep Chemicals locked away from small children, they will drink anything! Toxicity
These chemicals are all toxic if ingested and potentially
harmful if they come in contact with your skin (they will not burn your skin) - you should not be
dipping your hands into your print trays or in any way touching the solutions
- some of these will be absorbed into your skin and may cause skin allergies or health problems later in life -
don't risk it!
See these links for CHEMICAL COMPOSITION and TOXICITY
information -
See this link for Kodaks Photo Lab Health and Safety
information -
Darkroom Location A termporary Darkroom may be set up in a Bathroom or Laundry room, but because of the toxicity - NEVER in the Kitchen! Cleanup Upon completion of your processing sessions, always thoroughly rinse your print trays, tongs, beakers, etcetera, with clean running water. Give your print trays a good firm scrub with your fingers while rinsing. The plastic trays will stain over time - this will not affect future processing sessions as long as residual chemicals are removed from their surface during washing. Ventilate
Proper ventilation is important - after an hour or
so, there will be enough chemical vapors in the confines of your darkroom that you will be able
to "taste" the fixer (not very pleasant and I'm sure...not very healthy). Wash Your hands When doing processing (the "wet" side of your darkroom) make sure that you rinse your hands (soap is not necessary) and dry them before you move back to the "dry" side of you room and touch that expensive paper. Any chemical residue on your fingers will contaminate your unprocessed print paper, enlarger and easel and can damage equipment or produce ugly stains and / or streaks on your finished prints. Clothing Chemicals can permanently stain your clothes - don't wear something that you care about. Food NO FOOD in the darkroom - remember - toxic chemicals are very easy to transfer from your hands or surfaces, to your food.
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