Goodness me, the difficulties with alternative processes. It makes silver nitrite analogue photography look like a picnic. This are my thoughts recently shared with my Patreons
The Cyanotype process is fairly lengthy. This is how it goes.
1. Buy chemicals and the right kind of paper.
2. Mix chemicals in subdued lighting.
3. Paint chemicals onto paper, allow to dry. Preferably overnight. Get up early to put said papers into light proof bin bag before daylight gets to them (mostly the papers are left drying on the floor under a table in a tent made from inky aprons and the odd bit of cardboard).
4. Create negatives from photo in photoshop. Ideally I’ve done this already but sometimes a fresh cuttlefish takes my fancy and I start the photographing from scratch
5. Buy special print acetates and print negative. Allow to dry 24 hrs. See above.
6. Paper painted with chems is only useful for 24 hours so printing days need to be highly organised with a four hour time window. The ratio of chemical mixing to paper is one I’m still working on.
7. Open light sensitive bin bag, whip out paper, negative aligned (often two negatives for contrast making this tricky for alignment), put both face down in old ikea frame, add rubber mat, the back, close it up. Making registration marks are also a difficult choice as I’d rather these didn’t show on the final print. Apparently my paint lines and splashes are fine though…
8. Sunshine or UV lamp. I’ve got a small uv lamp that has some limitations but is better than the rain outside. It does involve standing over the print and waving the lamp about. This is not very repeatable or scientific but it does allow me to WhatsApp my brother in America to pass the time.
9. Wash print in sink/tray for ten minutes. I like the fact that the squid gets to swim again in the wash tray. A last swim. A final opportunity to leave ink. To fog a print, possibly.
10. Leave to dry. Come back 24 hours later to find the prints have FOGGED.
From beautiful sharp images to a veil of squiddy sadness. Here are some pics for you.
The sad lamp repurposed
The cuttlefish
Cuttle wash
Fogged over 24 hours
A veil Of squiddy sadness
Lessons learnt: paper that is bigger than the sink is difficult to wash. Ink that is more than 24 hrs on the paper might be fugitive.
Back to the studio for fresh chemicals and different papers!
My Patreons will be receiving an image (not foggy) when I’m more confident in my UV technique. Or the sun comes out. Or I win the lottery and buy a big fat commercial UV lamp. I admit to liking the slightly hoky process of running outside and counting minutes in the sunshine. Who’s up for a workshop in September for World Cyanotype Day?