blue as in cyanotype

For two days now I've been experimenting with cyanotype.
A couple of weeks ago I took a workshop on this process, I started reading everything I could find on the subject, ordered the chemicals and here I am now smiling on some of the resulting prints.
The main and most important ingredient for this type of art print is the sun! A cloudless sky offers the optimum condition, while trying to move fast in between clouds can be very challenging to one's mental well being and the results are mostly questionable...
So yesterday morning I started practicing and after a few tries with rather OK results, I became ambitious and at the same time addicted to the high a certain blue tone and a certain level of print quality gives... As of the sky, I had all kinds which really gave me various ways to practice calmness and at the same time exercise the level of patience sometimes I lack. I printed from transparencies I had previously prepared for this, and then I printed by placing actual objects on the paper. The above two prints are photograms; I placed the actual leaves on the paper, covered/secured with glass and after having them exposed in the sun, uncovered/removed the leaves, rinsed the prints in clear water, dipped them in a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water, rinsed again, dried them on a rack and here they are now gloriously blue and beautiful! The single leaf is my very favorite one; somehow I succeeded in having details of the actual leaf structure visible and I am so thrilled!
I hope for a cloudless sky tomorrow...

Comments

  1. Dar Anna,

    This is fantastic! I have always wanted to experiment with this kind of process, especially with a large digital negative in a contact printer frame. I agree with you that the first image, that of the single leave is the best and i love how some of the leaves texture have been captured.

    You keep surprising me and even tonight in my in-box. More on that tomorrow.

    Your friend,
    Egmont

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  2. Dear Anna,

    You will definitely find this process addictive.
    I'd love to see them.
    Love,
    Suzanne

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  3. Gorgeous results, love the colour. The chemicals sound a bit horrible! I think the top one is my favourite, I just love the simplicity of it. It looks quite iconic if you know what I mean.

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