Cyanotypes

Brief

In this class we learnt how to create Cyanotypes, Invented in 1842, the cyanotype process is one of the earliest forms of photography. The process became popular for copying, hence the term ‘blueprint’. Artist Anna Atkins moved from drawing to cyanotypes to catalogue British Algae in 1844.

How to create a cyanotype

Step 1

Working in low -level day light or during the evening, brush the ‘sensitizer’ solution onto an organic material: paper, wood, fabric fibres (try calico, an old t-shirt, dish cloth). Leave to dry and store in dark conditions.

Step 2

Once the paper is dry, it can be exposed to UV light (sun light, full sun is best) with objects placed onto the paper, or a large negative made from acetate.

Step 3

The paper is rinsed under running water until the yellow stain has gone. A further reaction takes place with the iron salts, and the chemical state changes to ferric ferrocyanide. Leave to dry.

My final Cyanotypes:

I am pleased with how they came out. This will definitely be a project that I might use in the future. As it is a simple way of creating an illustration without having to draw. My favourite one was the top one due to the plants both interlocking with their leaves making it look like they are one plant.

Research

After the lesson I looked at some examples of cyanotype to further my knowledge.

Bertha E. Jaques - Botanical Prints

Active in creating prints around the early 20th century and late 19th century. Bertha used cyanotypes to inform viewers on the importance of preserving wild flowers. She was an active member of the Wild Flower preservation society. It is interesting seeing her prints that she made over 100 years ago and how there is not much difference. Through using this age old method my prints have travelled back in time to when cyanotype was create in 1842.

Walead Beshty - Abstract of A Partial Disassembling of an Invention Without a Future

Walead Beshty has taken the cyanotype process into a more modern age through using aesthetica (man made objects) on different substrate such as cardboard and old bits of newspaper. This is something I would like to try where man mad silhouettes are used to create these eerie images. The artist was clever here as he used objects which will no longer be used due to being out of date or broken and linking them to the past even more by using this old method.