I have
been purchasing PMK Pyro as a set of pre-mixed powders just like ID11 and D76. Two of the
most popular mass produced powdered film developers; just add water and away
you go. Recently I have needed to replace my stock of PMK developer so went to
Silverprint my regular supplier to replenish the stock, only to be told that
they no longer did mixed batches for sale over the counter. They advised me they
stock all the ingredients for self mixing. This took me aback, several
expletives entered my head (which were not expressed) what was I going to do! I
have a number of tests planned for developing other makes of film let alone the
projects on going.
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| Raw chemicals to make up PMK Pyro |
I raised the
question on the film and darkroom forum and after the responses came back (thank you all) I decided to buy
the individual ingredients; it is quite expensive to set up, partly due to the
way the powders are sold but should make it cheaper over time. This raised the
thought of making up all the chemicals I used in the darkroom from powder,
meaning they will be as fresh as possible at the point of use.
What will
you need? To start
with a set of scales, they do not have to be that expensive but should be able
to read very small amounts. The relevant powdered chemicals which are, Metol,
Sodium Bisulphite (Sodium metabisulphite), Pyrogallol, EDTA di-Sodium (optional)
and Sodium Metaborate (Kodalk).
