Cyanotype Prints

My granddaughter was here yesterday and we had a lot of fun working on the Cyanotype silk scarves I had ordered from Freestyle Photographic supplies.  They were $18 each, but I found out they are $2 less when you order directly thru www.bluesunprints.com.  The scarves are 9" x 54" in size and come in white, fuchsia, and lime green. If you want yellow, you run the scarf thru a rinse of a phosphate detergent like Tide, All, or even TSP.   The design left on the scarf would be that particular color I just mentioned, and the rest of the scarf would remain blue.

Our first step was to figure out the design.  We had combed the house the night before looking for ideas and 'things' to place on the scarf for a design.  We mostly went with plant leafs and flowers, but we also added other objects such as:  Chinese coins (some were transparent), blown glass 'blobs' for lack of a better word, an animal cut out, feathers came out pretty cool too.  I used a knotted yarn for a border which came out pretty cool surprisingly enough.  We did find out that smaller or thin twigs didn't come out as well.  We still need to do some more testing on what to use.  We decided to stick to 'themes' and go from there.  Bluesunprints.com does give you ideas, like cutouts of images, downloaded images printed on clear plastic such as sheet protectors, and of course negatives.

Next we ironed the scarf to remove some of the wrinkles from being packaged.  Then I put together some cardboard to fit the length of the scarf in order to stabilize it so we could place our objects (because later you move your piece of 'artwork' outside in the sun).   We used tack pins to hold the scarf down  I'm telling you all of these steps as we did not find any videos on the Internet, including YouTube, demonstrating the scarf process. Next we wait 10-15 minutes for the sun to do it's trick on the scarf.  I would suggest you do this process on a non-windy day.  We had a little breeze once in a while and we had to re-position some of the pieces back on to the scarf.

After time is up, bring in the scarf, remove the pieces, and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear.  Hang to dry and then press.  They came out really cool I must say.  We are planning on wearing them today, or as my granddaughter said, "...they're art, and we're going to an art gallery!".