After a very long time (I’m talking years) I’d been mulling over cyanotype again. More specifically, river cyanotype. Something I’d been experimenting with, and with varying degrees of success around 2018-20.
I also finally redecorated my bedroom. I had a new roof on my house in 2019 and have slept under a grey drywall ceiling with a hideous mess of crap where it met the wall ever since. And thus I procrastinated about making good for 5 years, as usual. I did a great job; the drywall jointing and the repairs to the wall look poggers even if I do say so myself. But now I had a big expanse of wall that needed art.
Serendipitiously, I discovered the artist/marine bioloogist Oriana Poindexter and her stunning giant kelp forest cyanotypes. They inspired me to go back to my river and pick up where I left off. It was mid-September, the weather beautiful and the UV still pretty good so off I set with my paper and my new art buddy, Bang.
As I write this I’m editing a video of the process, so perhaps I’ll let that explain what I did instead. But I will tell you that the first experiments were with 5 year old chemicals on Fabriano drawing paper (I forget which one) and they were NOT great. So, new chemicals and Arches 300gsm cotton paper were in order and they came out much, much better.
{EDIT: Video is now up on my YouTube}
I then found an old frame, repaired it and gave it a coat of paint and framed the best one for my room. But the glare from the glass really bothered me, I couldn’t see the detail very well. Hmmm, does it need to be under glass? I don’t know a huge amount about preserving cyanotype so I guess this is another experiment to see if it fades over time.
I had a blast doing this again and I’m very happy with the results. So I think once the sun returns in Spring I’ll get back down to the river and continue.
I have created a step by step pdf to guide you through making your own simple cyanotype. Sign up for Studio Notes to get a copy!