After I made the cyanotype prints a couple of months ago I showed them around and received some very positive feedback. I’ve decided to make some of them available on etsy.com.
These are the first prints I completed where I was satisfied with the overall tonal range and color. These are small prints approximately 4.5×7 inches and matted to 8×10. The price is $35.00 plus shipping.
Images and a description of the process was posted here and here.
I had good sunlight the other morning so I exposed a couple more cyanotypes from negatives I generated the day before when it was cloudy.
The first is from an image I captured last March of an old church ruin in Kabletown, WV.
Church Ruin, Kabletown, WV (Scanned Cyanotype)
The negative was printed on Pictorico OHC transparency film on my Epson 3800 and then exposed to the sunlight for 10 minutes.
Here is what the rig looks like on the bench on the front porch:
The second print was a shot of a sculpture/fountain that is at the front of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The sculpture is sprayed by water and the effect a mix of fantasy and sensuous.
"Splash" (Scanned Cyanotype)
For this the negative was exposed to sunlight for about eight minutes.
I have been thinking about setting up some kind of UV light so I can expose these prints at any time regardless of the weather. But there’s something neat about doing it the old fashioned way.
I’ve been dabbling in what is referred to “alternative processes” and I have succeeded in making a couple of cyanotype prints.
On one level it’s quite simple, but to get a really good print requires some care. I thought I would describe the process by showing one result, which is which is my first reasonably successful effort.
Here is the original digital image, captured in the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. a few months ago:
Since cyanotype printing is a contact printing process – in other words requires a negative the same size as the print – a negative had to be made from the digital file by printing on clear film. In this case, I used Pictorico OHC (overhead projector film.) Here is the file from which the digital negative was printed. Note that the images is flipped so when it is placed over the paper, the printed side is down in tight contact with the paper.
Once I had the negative, it was time to prepare the paper. The cyanotype paper emulsion is hand coated on the paper. The digital negative is then contact printed by exposure to an ultraviolet light source. About the best UV source available is the sun! So after about three minutes of exposure bright sunlight on a clear early winter day, I had an image. The image is already “developed” on the paper from exposure. To finish, the print is only washed in plain water to wash away the unused emulsion.
And here is a scan of the final print:
If nothing else, it’s an interesting departure from the high-tech processes of digital imaging. I have no intention of giving up my digital camera, but this kind of process creates a different kind of image that can be quite elegant in its own way.
