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