[Chirs Gregory]

Thank you for the great advice. My eyes are only 20 years old so I think even a cheap dim safelight from Freestyle would suffice. At the darkroom at school I usually just wear a stopwatch to keep time. Thanks for the tip about the milk jugs, that's a great idea. I know that there are testers to see when a fixer is exhausted but how would i be able to tell when the developer is done?

I built my own safelight with the same money I spent on my window black-out. I got a cardboard presentation poster, cut a 3X6 hole in it, then taped four layers of red plastic (a report cover folded over once) over the hole. I also dug up some velcro so I made a removable panel to fit over the hole for when I need complete darkness. Finally, I finished the edge of the thing with some black gaffer tape, which was extended over the edge by an inch to make a tighter fit with the window frame. Now my darkroom has a view! (Note: I'm pretty sure that some UV can still get through my ersatz gel, so it obviously isn't as safe as a real safelight filter.)

As far as developer capacity is concerned, whenever I start cursing the company that made my film or paper, I know it's probably time to mix up a new batch.