Zuma bamboo tongs – courtesy of Amazon and Limo Studios
Toronto. Sorry, I don’t refer to any Chinese gangs in this post. Instead, I discuss photography tongs – A minor accessory for B&W darkrooms – usually bought in sets of three.
In the 1960s, I used tongs made of three different materials – sturdy stainless steel tongs, bamboo and rubber tongs (my personal favourites), and plastic ones (they were old, used, and came with small plastic trays).
Under the soft glow of the darkroom safelight, each tray of chemistry had its own pair of tongs. The tongs were often colour coded so they could be tied to the same tray of chemicals. While a print was immersed in a chemistry, the tray was gently rocked to ensure even coverage. The tongs could be used to rearrange prints as need be.
After a print developed, it was lifted by one corner with the tongs and drained from the diagonal corner then dropped in the stop bath. A second set of tongs repeated the process and dropped the print in the fixer where after a time the process was repeated with the third pair of tongs and this time the print was dropped into the wash water.
At the end of each session trays and tongs were washed, stop bath tossed, and developer and fixer returned to their respective containers ready to be used once again. Those were the days (or nights) with quiet contemplation as a miracle unfolded on each photo paper!
