Photography - Fun for the KIDS ?

Ok, big kids..... (my little ones too)

I recently came across a lot of nice camera's , and Alpa 6b, a Rollei,
a Bolex 8, and a couple of others, amongst the others a Brownie
Hawk-Eye 2 C .

This is the one I had interest in for us to play with , I am 35 and
when I was about 9 I bought one at a flea market, me and the old man
went and bought some film and I proceeded to take pictures with it, 8
of them, and had them developed, I dont know if the camera had a light
leak or we handled the film poorly but the pictures came out massivley
light (intersting they are some of the few photos I took of my
grandparents while they were alive and I chersih them to this day.

Today I loaded up a reel of Tmax 100 in the old Kodak, and took
pictures of my kids (1 with my 2 year old wearing ashirt that was mine
at his age , you know Collar tabs to the elbows and pearl buttons on a
western motif, way tacky)

I went and bought some D-76 Developer and Fixer.

The last time I developed film succesfully was some 25 years ago.

I commandeered the laundry room to my wifes dismay, and loaded up the
tank with developer.

I ran the faucet till it was 68degrees on my wrist, ( a thermometer
confirmed it, Im really good at water temps with fish and all :)

Threw the film in the jar, waited......then forgot, then 10 minutes
later (it was only supposed to be 6 1/2) started rinsing.....

Hey !!!! I got Negatives, a bit light , is that from letting it sit in
the developer too long ?

Or was it too much light put out by my 400 watt light bar ?

Anyhow, off to contact printing, I got last week a CHEAPIE kit from the
50's with a tin a plate of glass, a couple of tongs and clips, you
know one of those $3.50 (in 1958) "DEVELOP YOU PICTURES AT HOME" deals,
so I sliced up some paper with the wifes utlity sciccors, and turned on
the light, (I actually did this twice before I realized I had the last
exposed one face up on the dryer...ooooppppssss

Well I did it gain thre it in the developer, and rinsed it then to the
fixer......

I have to say with the TOTAL disregard for anything resembeling proper
procedure, or handling I got some GREAT pictures outta that old little
cardboard box !!!

I just kinda threw some chemicals in and didnt even wear a
watch.....this is FUN !

Next time I will pay a litte more attention , and will DEFINATLEY shoot
with a better camera, I dont know if much of the issues are my
ineptitude in the darkroom or the camera, I mean its a cardboard box
with fake leather and a shutter that you manually open and close....

My investment was severs I must say all this darkroom equiptment,
chemicals, paper, red light, came to a staggering sum,

$22 ....... (+ the 4.50 for the film...)

Im joking about the staggering part....

Lots and LOTs of fun for $30......

Cheers.

p.s. (Will leaving the film in the developer too long make it light ?
or is this a camera or light issue ?

Chris