Alternative Photo Class: Cyanotypes

Cyanotype was probably my favorite process and same with most of the classmates. The cyanotype printing process gives you what you'd expect - a cyan-blue print.  You mix potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate to make a light sensitive solution. Then you'd coat it on some thick paper. Then we would use a digital image, which we turned into black and white and a negative in photoshop first, and then printed it on a transparency.  Place the negative on top of the (dry) light sensitive paper and expose for about 20 minutes in a UV light table or outside (Sun works too).  Remove the negative and wash your newly exposed paper in a tray with running water for 30 minutes and you have a cyanotype!

negative

the Kalmar Nyckel ship (unaltered) cyanotype

You can also alter the colors in your cyanotype with other solutions like Vinegar, tea, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, etc. to get different effects.  This London print was toned with tea and Ammonia, intensifying the colors and producing more of a navy blue.

Don't have to limit your options to paper - you can also print on fabric.
Why not make that boring white throw pillow or white t-shirt into something more desirable with some cyanotype. 

detail
see, it is fabric

You can also make photograms with cyanotype which can look pretty cool too.  I didn't do this but check some out on the internet.  Instead of a negative image you just place objects on top of the paper like a plant or jewelry and after washing you get their silhouette images left.

I definitely want to buy a cyanotype kit. This is really fun and easy to do. I'm thinking the Legge cyanotype, X-mas card is gonna get a leg up on all our friends cards this year.