Cyanotype

Cyanotype

We (Group B), produced cyanotype with Sian. The chemicals were already applied to pieces of paper and canvas and all we had to do was to convert one of our photographs in Photoshop. I flipped the image and converted it to a negative which Sian printed out on acetate sheets. The flip of the image is necessary so that when the negative is place against the paper, the image is produce the correct way around for example, if the image has text then it comes out reading correctly.

Upon receiving the acetate 'negative', it was placed onto the chemically treated paper and then enclosed within a frame. We were adviced to position the image outside in direct sunlight for about 45 minutes. In that time the treated paper's rather yellowish hue would slowly change to darkish (black/blue) hue.

Unfortunately, after about one and half-an-hour, the colour barely changed so we decided to take our images to one of the photographic studios to use John's UV lamp as it was pretty cold standing outside (poor us)! Again, after a couple of hours of exposure, the yellowish colour barely darkened and we decided to take the exposures for processing anyway. To our surprise, with immediate contact with the chemical the colour changed to blue. Obviously, our images were over-exposed.

The cyanotype I produce is in my sketchbook which is in the possession of Sian.

I like cyanotypes and I hope I have further opportunities to experiment with them in my own time but of course, with digital software, it is possible to mimic the process and then print it on any substrate I wish. Moral dilemma or what?