Cyanotype Printing

[GerTee]

Thinking about giving cyanotype printing a go. Has anyone else had a go? Any newbie hints and tips much appreciated.

 

[DesmoDog]

Lady DesmoDog does this every year with her class at school, and I'm often involved with the years testing.

The main issue appears to always be keeping whatever you are using as a mask still, so it's best to sandwich it between two sheets of glass.
That also allows you to arrange it all and be happy with position etc before turning over the coated paper and putting the Glass sandwich on top quickly.

 

[GerTee]

Lady DesmoDog does this every year with her class at school, and I'm often involved with the years testing.

The main issue appears to always be keeping whatever you are using as a mask still, so it's best to sandwich it between two sheets of glass.
That also allows you to arrange it all and be happy with position etc before turning over the coated paper and putting the Glass sandwich on top quickly.

Thanks for that. I'd sort of picked up the importance of keeping things still from a few YouTube videos I've watched. I'm also looking at printing a negative image on OHP Inkjet paper and using that as my mask. Clips and tape seem to be the way to go with this approach.

 

[Next Stop]

I've done it in the past, fairly simple process but can be tricky to master as the timings depend on the amount of sun you have available, I bought an old table top suntan lamp which worked a treat as you then could calculate the exposure in a controlled environment, but again it was still a bit unpredictable. A lot of trial and error, but then that's part of the fun.

The trick is choosing the right photo to start with, something with lots of contrast, light/dark parts works well.
I used to sandwich mine in an old picture frame to keep it still and flat.
It's really good fun and quite a cheap way into getting into developing you own photos.

Highly recommend!

You can also tone them after using tea or wine or similar, this one was toned with coffee