Cyanotype is a photographic blueprint that originated in the 1840’s. Two different chemicals are needed for this process: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. They come in powder form and you only need to add distilled water to make each solution which I labeled A and B and then combine equal parts of each solution (solution AB) to put onto paper. I used water color color paper but it will work on most papers and fabrics that have not been treated.
There are two kinds of cyanotypes: dry and wet.
For a dry cyanotype start with your dry paper that has been prepared with the chemicals and then add a photographic negative or objects such as leaves and put them directly onto the paper. Sandwich the paper between two glass plates so that they don’t move and put out into the sun. The amount of time that is necessary to get a good print depends on where you live and time of day. I live in a very sunny climate and found that 4 to 5 min of direct sunlight works best. To make a negative you will need transparency film that works with your printer, and photoshop. In photo shop you size your photo, turn it black and white and then use adjustment -inverse. I found that further adjustments and experiments were needed to get a good print by using curves.
I did some experimenting with bleaching the resulting prints and toning with black tea but liked the original blue best. I added gold leaf and gold painted leaves to my final piece.
For wet cyanotypes- start the same way with your treated water color paper. However, before you add leaves or objects add something wet -like vinegar and soap bubbles to the paper first. Some people like to add salt, turmeric or other colored spices. The paper is then wrapped in plastic wrap and sandwiched between two glass plates. Additional objects can be added on top of the glass and then an additional piece of glass can be added on top of that to get shadows on the final project.
I used vinegar, soap and turmeric , chamomile flowers and leaves for the following example. I used water color paint and gold ink to finish it.
