Cyanotype workshop

Cyanotype is a relatively simple photographic process which generates images on a blue background using sunlight. I’d been keen to explore this art form for some time, possibly using prepared paper which i had intended to take on holiday and create a series of momento images. I scoured Liverpool specialist shops for the prepared paper, but drew a blank – or didnt ‘draw a blank’, if i generate some sort of far fetched pun!

As part of Warwickshire Open Studios event, i visited Yew Tree Farm in Wootton Wawen, and noticed a cyanotype print course on their workshop notice board. It was on a slightly inconvenient date, but i made it happen. (Note that several pictures have the odd bit of lace thrown in for experimental purposes…)

I approached the day with the intention of experimenting, rather than create anything delightful! My primary experiment was to take some fabric samples rather than limiting my experimentation to watercolour paper. It seemed sensible to start with paper like ‘teacher’ (Hannah) and all the other participants. First learning point – this was perhaps not a good idea because the fabric takes much longer to be exposed in the sun than paper, and my later experiments were pushing it to dry properly in the allotted workshop time. Also, we were informed that the exposure process was complete when the chemical background turned a pale brown colour, but it tranpires that some fibres do not turn pale brown, but remain blue when exposure is complete. Whilst most of this was going on right at the end of the workshop, there was lots of learning, i think for both me and Hannah!

The other major learning was about object transparency. Degrees of object transparency allow degrees of light to penetrate and give much more interesting results than freshly picked, moist objects. Unless that is, you want a clearly defined blocked out shape, in which case, no object transparency is fine.

I knew it was a good idea to press objects prior to using them. There was purpose in pressing all those leaves and flower heads when we were school kids! Except that now i have fogotten some of the pressing process and used limited supplies of newspaper and books to press some leaves from my vine. I think we used blotting paper when we were kids. Who has a handy stock of blotting paper these days? Removing the moisture creates a element of transparency meaning that leaf veins, for example, are visible in the final image. More practice needed.

Along with my fabric, a sample of calico and a scrap of pink cotton, i took some lace from my trimmings box. Now i really was experimenting….. Despite it being a hot and sunny day, this piece spent over an hour exposed to the sun. A recommended next step is to produce a piece using graduated exposures at, say, 10 minute intervals to see what the results look like. As soon as my chemical emulsion set arrives and the sun is shining (it shines quite a lot these days), i will give this a try and probably blog the results.

The fresh rosemary came out well on the pink cotton, but it would be more fun to use an orange background, for example, or yellow. Or use printed cotton as a background, or multiple colours…. the ideas for further experimentation grow.

Now some practical stuff. I tried hard to use ‘things that i already have at home’, which was most things apart from the chemicals. We had UV light boxes that could be used to expose the work, but i have daylight at home, so i stuck with that! My craft room gets a lot of light, which is mostly good for crafting, but may be too bright for the initial application of chemicals and drying the fabric or paper before creating a design, or another experiment! I probably need to carry out the prepartion in another part of the house where it is darker. Maybe i need to move my computer and do it right where i am sitting now.

It could be a messy process, but it wasn’t. Attendees came armed with aprons and i wore thin gloves, but needn’t have done. I dont think anyone got messed up, but it might have been hard to know as we mainly turned up in blue clothing!

There are more workshops, and therefore more experiments to be done!! I fancy the one about using textures to enhance the images. Things such as salt, and vinegar, and turmeric. I asked Hannah if she had tried textures on fabric, and whilst the answer was ‘no’, i am quite sure that I am not trailing blazing the crafting world here.