more recent cyanotypes

if you have been reading my last few posts you probably know  i have been making cyanotypes.  what happened was i mixed a bunch of cyanotype chemistry and rather than get rid of it i coated everyting i could find …  14×17 xerox paper, butcher paper, velum (pierce and bristol ? ) mailing envelopes brown craft paper ..  some things work better than others …  i have done similar things with photo emulsion ..  just coated what i could to see what worked and didn’t …  and to be honest i am thinking that sometimes the stuff didn’t work because of how i use/ don’t use  whatever it is that i am using.  maybe it doesn’t like my negatives, maybe it doesn’t like my water source or developer …

anyways  here are a few more waxed paper cyanotypes

hot off the skillet !

 

cropped
on the way to vezelay walking up the hill
barely bleached
central france walking to vezelay basilica
saran wrap
dead plant and clothespin, classic cyanotype

 

i think the age of the classic formula gives it a weirdish green tone when i develop it out.  the saran wrap gives a nice wavy texture. the 2 waxed paper negatives are straight scans.  the negatives  are bleached a little bit to get rid of the blue, some areas turned brownish more. the way i bleach is that i put less than a thumble full of water logged washing soda ( calcium carbonate ) in a big beaker of water and it dissolves readily, then i pour the solution into the wash water and it dilutes as the tray drains ( it is a print washing tray i drilled holes in years ago for a water jacket )

a couple of fill and dumps the prints have bleached enough and i keep washing. the print has an area on it that is stained from the wax, but it is just the border, and doesn’t bleed into the print.  the waxed negative prints i usually leave in direct sunlight ( sun blasting on the print frame ) for 8 hours.  sometimes i don’t move it in time so it gets open shade or shady sunlight, sometimes it is shade before i remember to move it …  this time it started raining as i was exposing, so i brought in the frames and dried them and the glass off, and put them back out in the sun the next day when i could.  some water leeched in under the glass and messed with the print along with the blotchy-ness from the wax.  even thought some might view these as failures, and things i couldn’t do again if i tried, i see them as successes.  the waxed negative is great to work with and sometimes partial development by rain while the image is exposing can lead to interesting results.

Author: jnanian

I am a Freelance Photographer in Rhode Island. I make photographs using a variety of methods with and without a camera, and I teach photography online and in person. I make photo emulsions from scratch, I coat my own photo paper and make cyanotypes too. I am a huge fan of Caffenol ( I helped write the Caffenol Cookbook ) and instead of instant coffee, I roast my own Sumatra Robusta beans. I sell them so you can make your own long lasting, film and print developer called Sumatranol. I also sell silver recovery products.