How to set up your own wet lab to process film

It's not very hard to set up your own wet lab to process black and white film. I would suggest you to use your bathroom for this, but it could be done somewhere else, where you have a sink, as well.

First you have to make the room light proof. In many cases the light is coming under the door, so you can easily block it with a towel or something similar. This step is needed for any kind of film, because you have to load all of them in the darkness. Sheet film developement process might also need to be done in the darkness until the film is fixed depending on the chosen technique. If you are developing film in a tank you will have another option too besides dark room, which is loading your film inside a loading bag.

Next you need to get the supplies. Chemicals, like developer, stop bath (optional), fixer, hypo clear and photo flo. For roll films, you will need tank and reels. For sheet film you will need either trays, hangers and yankee tanks or tank (like Jobo, really hard to find nowadays). Also you will need funnels, beakers, stopwatch or glow in the dark watch, thermometer and ice to lower temperatures.

Next you have to set up the chemicals. First step in the process of developing film is prewash. It's usually done with water. Second step is the developer. If you get it in your clothes, it will probably leave nasty stain, so use either waterproof apron or old clothes. Third step is stop bath, which can be either water or actual stop bath chemical. Fourth step is fixer, which will make the image permanent. After the fixer the film can be exposed to light. Never dump fixer down the drain! Fifth step is hypo clear, that will take out all the extra silver left in the film. Sixth step is wash, which should be done in running water. Seventh step is photo flo. Last step is to take the film out from the reel or the hanger and hang to dry. Shower stall or tall closet works great for that.