Cyanotype Workshop
Cyanotype workshop
The cyanotype is a historic photographic technique discovered in 1842 by John Herschel. They are produced using a mix of Ammonium Ferric Citrate and Potassium Ferricyanide which together make a light sensitive emulsion which is applied to a surface and then is exposed using ultra violet light (full details in technical journal).
One of the first photographic books was Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions by Anna Atkins a year later. Atkins used the light sensitive surface to make photograms of dried seaweed.
Annie Lopez
Other contemporary artists have explored the medium further. They have tested prints for reactions with other substances and discovered that they can be stained using the tannins in tea and red wine.
Annie Lopez
“Medical Conditions” (2013), a vintage-inspired dress in which the artist Annie Lopez developed cyanotypes onto tamale wrappers with images representing family memories.
Angela Charmers
Personal reflection
This is a lovely process which creates beautiful print. The level of exposure is really important, so it took a few tries to get the timings right.
I wanted to try using this process outdoors with naturally occurring UV light and found water to develop. I took some precoated paper along to the Merzbarn on a student trip after the workshop and developed a body of work using the technique. I used found pieces of detritus as the subjects and started to get a feel for the timings when the light sources were not stable. I also used some tea to stain some of the prints and discovered that this process took a long time and had to be left in overnight.
When I’d completed the body of experimental prints I collated them in conjunction with the text I’d written and created a book which is part diary, part documentary and part artwork.
Exposing the cyanotypes using the sunshine
Developing in a puddle
Cyanotype photogram of a fern soaked overnight in tea
Additional references
One book I have found particularly useful in this research is, Cyanotype: Historical and alternative photography by Peter Mrhar
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