Cyanotype – Temenos
We had been meaning to play with cyanotype all summer but never really found the time or energy to do so.
So I thought a course together would be a fun way for both of us to play with it together. Luckily Northern Print in Newcastle had some spaces left on a course that was on the first day of our two week holiday, perfect!
The week before we went on the course I spent some time putting together several digital negatives as for me cyanotype may turn into a way to print out some of my archive at home, not only to get some prints but because each one is handmade and would be a one off personal piece rather than the mechanical process of modern photography printing.
First part of the morning was spent on introductions and talking about cyanotype as a process, its historical background and uses, and how we we’re going to use it on the day.
We then spent some time coating paper to get our prints on, this was after having the chemistry of the process explained to us.
There were some precoated sheets ready for us to play about with (none the size of my negatives) so we set about making shapes and using found objects to produce our first prints.
Cyanotype – Bird
My first play whilst waiting for the larger pieces to dry enough to use was a little play on modernist art and Miro, a little bird in a tree made from tracing paper and gauze.
This came out so dark I thought it was going to be a complete failure but after the cleaning and fixing process, just plain water, it started to show definition, and the longer it dried the better the definition.
It was then time to start putting through the various digital negatives, some worked better than others and one of the ones I was most pleased with was a photograph of Temenos in Middlesbrough with the Transporter Bridge in the background.
There was enough contrast throughout the picture (including in the sky) to get a really clear image with lots of definition.
I think the thing we both took away from the day was that cyanotype is ripe for play, yes use it as a medium for my photographs, but also use it for play and art making, surprise ourselves with what works and what could then be further developed, use it experimentally, but have fun with the whole process as it is easy to make, reasonably cheap, and has almost instant result.
Here are some websites that talk about cyanotype as a process and to get the chemicals that you need to make them.
