Cyanotype

Cyanotype is a historic photographic printing process that produces a cyan blue print.

 It is quite a cheap and easy process and is traditionally done with film negatives. However, when I tried this process, I used a digital image that I'd taken.

First of all I prepared the paper. Cartridge paper is used as it is quite durable, can cope with water well and has a nice texture to it. The chemicals needed for the process are potassium ferricyanide and ammonium ferriccitrate. I poured equal quantities into a dish and then brushed the solution over the paper evenly. Once dried, the paper becomes light sensitive, so I put it into a dark cupboard whilst it dried.

Whilst waiting for my paper to dry I chose an image that I thought would suit this effect and that was quite high in contrast. I opened the image in photoshop, changed it to black and white and then inverted it so that it became a negative image. Then, I printed the image onto acetate and this acted as a film negative.

I haven't yet done the next step because there wasn't enough equipment for everyone to do it but I'll talk about what I'll do next....

To complete the process I need to clip the acetate between a piece of glass and some board and then leave it exposed to UV light for about 10 mins (either sunlight or an electric UV light) or until the paper appears a kind of dark green colour. Then the paper needs to be rinsed with water. The parts of the image that were shadowed from the UV light by the dark parts of the acetate print should appear white and the exposed parts should be a cyan blue colour.

Results to come...  

It is a really sunny day today, so i only had to expose it to the light for about 4 - 5 minutes.

Here are the acetate negatives and the final result after rinsing them with cold water