Reddit reviews Grafix P05DM1114 Matte .005 Dura-Lar Film, 11-Inch by 14-Inch, 25 Sheets

I have 2 sets of pins - one in the neg carrier, and one for duping film.

So, say you have a 6x6 neg - you get a scrap of 120 leader and tape it to the edge of the film, so you have like an extra 1/2" - this pic shows an example - the neg on the left is the original neg with the scrap taped on. You can use scotch tape, mylar tape or litho tape (scotch would possibly tear after a lot of handling??). Then you set your punch to be 2 holes, maybe 1+" apart, and punch that little edge.

I use three different films to make masks, all in 4x5:

Freestyle ortho lith film - graphic arts film, very high contrast, dirt cheap. In litho developer it's pure black and clear, in dilute film developer it's continuous tone, but sort of a splotchy rendering sometimes; you can use with red safelights and develop by eyeballing it.

Ilford Ortho Plus - continuous tone film with low sensitivity to red - you can use with red safelights and develop by eyeballing it, but tonality is more like straight neg film;

And any fast B&W film - right now I have arista EDU 100 - must be developed in the dark. The last 2 films can be bleached back, or toned in selenium, sepia, or chromium to beef them up if needed (more density).

So I cut the 4x5 film in half, for 2" x 2.5" pieces. You punch the film with the same setup you punched the main neg with. You contact print it - under your enlarger, tape down a piece of black paper, and tape the pins down to align with the film. Unexposed film goes emulsion-up on the pins; the neg goes emulsion down (usually). Then a sheet of glass on top; and I use white opal glass - white plex or glass + mylar should work OK. You do tests just like doing a paper contact print, strip test, etc. You control the contrast you want by exposure vs. development, more like shooting film.

To develop the ortho films, I use a 5x7 tray; for the regular B&W film, I hot-glued a plastic reel to be a hair taller, so I can slide the 2x2.5" film into the reel and develop in a tank.

So a negative becomes a positive - then you can re-contact print the pos to get a neg, if for some reason you need that. The book "Way Beyond Monochrome" has an extensive chapter on the various masks and what they're used for; for specific dodging, you might not even develop any film - you can punch a piece of mylar and use a pencil to shade where you want stronger highlights (third neg from the left on the photo linked above - I use the mylar that comes in pads). There are things like masks that just expose the deepest shadows, which can be crazy-powerful.

You could get her some fancy paper like DuraLar drafting film in Matte. It's wonderful for prismacolor pencil work! It comes in different sizes and you should be able to find some at Michael's here's a link for reference: https://www.amazon.com/Grafix-Dura-Lar-11-Inch-14-Inch-Sheets/dp/B004B77NNU