I received an email last month from someone inquiring about developing film using black walnuts, saying that all they could find online was this post of mine. Below is the information that I emailed back, roughly edited. 🙂
First I make a black walnut extract. To make black walnut extract, I fill a five gallon bucket full of black walnuts, then I cover the walnuts in rain water and put a lid on the bucket. I let this bucket sit outside for three or more months, ideally in the warmer months. However, I had a bucket sitting for approximately 6 months in an unheated, garage-like space over the winter and it seemed to work fine. This is a process that I had loosely taken from this book.
I then pour the liquid off of the walnuts into a another five gallon bucket and top it off with more rain water. I keep this bucket in my shed where it attracts squirrels. 😀
From there, I’ve tend to experiment a bit. Lately, I’ve been diluting the extraction 1:1 with more water when I make my developer. There seems to be no discernable difference between film that I’ve developed with and without diluting it, so I’ve been doing this to conserve resources. I started diluting because the developer tends to stain the base of some film stocks significantly (see below), and I was trying to reduce the staining.
My recipe is based on the Caffenol-C-H recipe that is out there on the internet. I just eliminate the coffee and replace the water with the extract (or the extract diluted with water 1:1). Here is my recipe:
BLACK WALNUT FILM DEVELOPER:
YIELD: 1000 ml
500 ml water
500 ml black walnut extract
54 g Washing Soda
17 g Vitamin C
10 g Iodized Salt OR
1.0 g KBr (potassium bromide)
I use potassium bromide rather than iodized salt because I get better results/more even development.
I develop 100 iso film for 13 minutes, 200 iso film for 14 minutes, 400 iso film for 15 minutes, etc. However, these times are based on my go-to caffenol recipe and could be contributing to the staining of some film bases.
The following film stocks seem to work well with the walnut developer:
- Fomapan 400
- Foma Holga 400
- Fuji Neopan 100 Acros II
- Kentmere Pan 100 (mild staining)
- Kentmere Pan 200 (mild staining)
- Kentmere Pan 400 (mild staining)
These film stocks also work, but they get stained very badly:
- Ilford HP5+
- Kodak T-Max 400
Here are a few examples photos that I’ve developed using the black walnut developer:
Fomapan 400
Kentmere Pan 100
Fuji Neopan 100 Acros II
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