Oriental Lilies

The flowers of Stargazer Lilies don't last long, but while they do they are always spectacular!

I finally got round to mixing up some PC-Glycol, a two part developer made by dissolving phenidone and ascorbic acid in ethylene glycol for the first part, and a 0.5% solution of sodium carbonate for the second.

The glycol needs to be warmed a little to completely dissolve the other chemicals, and smells a bit, but it's easy to do on an old hotplate in the workshop, not too sure about doing it in the kitchen!

The idea behind this developer is that the developing agents are only activated when mixed with the alkaline second bath - in glycol they are inert, and have an almost indefinite shelf life, and most commonly used alkalis - sodium carbonate, Kodalk, and borax, last for ages also, so good for casual use.

The nice thing is that it seems to give quite fine grain plus the usual ascorbic acid sharpness, very like Caffenol, but without the need to mix it up every time. I think I will explore this more!

1983 Mamiya ZM Quartz, f1.7/50mm Sekor lens, x2 yellow filter. Polypan F at EI 50, 3ml PC-Glycol, 0.5% sodium carbonate solution to 300ml. 10 mins @ 21C. Scanned at 2400dpi on Epson V500.