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How to make a cyanotype print

The cyanotype process is a great way to start learning how to make historical prints as it's relatively cheap, non-toxic, and is an uncomplicated chemical formula. 

I started out by buying kits from Dennis Da Silva at the Alternative Print Workshop in Johannesburg. If you live elsewhere you'll probably find that there will be someone who makes and sells kits in your city or country of residence. The Alternative Photography website has a list of suppliers as a starting point. 

Eventually I bought bulk dry chemistry and mixed my own solutions. If, like me, you don't have a science or chemistry background, don't be intimidated if you decide you want to buy and mix your own chemistry. It will require a little more equipment though - jeweler's scales, brown glass bottles, a measuring cylinder - so initially I do recommend buying a kit. 

There are two types of prints you can make; photograms, like Anna Atkins' work, or if you want to print photographs or other artworks using the process, you can create a digital negative using an inkjet printer. For the first year and a half I used an inexpensive home office inkjet printer to make mine and had very good results. You'll also need some inkjet compatible overhead projector transparency film, or silkscreening film. Both of those film options will be cheaper than the high-end products you'll find mentioned on the alt. photography groups and forums. I used a no-name silkscreen film for the prints in this exhibition and am very happy with how it performed.
 

Below is a video demonstration from Bostick and Sullivan, who have a huge amount of information available on their website and YouTube channel. My process is reasonably similar, and I'll describe some of it briefly below, but you'll find if you explore further into the historical printing world that there are many deviations from the so-called norm that produce equally excellent results. 

Making digital negatives can lead down a rather more complicated path, and requires Photoshop (or possibly GIMP), but you will find a free generic cyanotype LUT on the Bostick and Sullivan site to get you started. You'll note that the article refers to Peter Mrhar's Easy Digital Negatives technique, which is the method I use.

There are many different papers that will work with cyanotype, but do make certain that the paper you use to print on is unbuffered pH neutral, or the alkaline buffering used in many acid-free watercolour papers will literally make your image literally disappear.

 

Initially I used UV directly from the sun, which is fun, and very cheap, but that became frustrating as I had no way of measuring the UV and if it was raining I couldn't print. My friend Gareth Grant generously volunteered  his carpentry skills to build me an exposure box very similar to those you'll see in the video, but it's possible to make much cheaper versions of UV units using UV LEDS and cardboard boxes. If you decide to go this route do spend some time researching UV wavelengths most appriopriate for the historical print processes and try and buy lights that are capable of outputting those wavelengths.

In the video you'll see Christi using a contact printing frame. I have one, again built by Gareth, but when I started I just used a sheet of glass over a stable piece of plywood. If you're going to use that technique I'd recommend 7mm glass, as the weight will assist in keeping the image crisp and unblurred. 

You can use any dark dry place to dry your paper after coating - at the moment I use shoeboxes or document boxes, but I would love a drying cupboard eventually. After printing and developing I prefer to dry my prints hanging from a line which avoids puddling.

If you have a limited budget and don't have access to secondhand darkroom equipment, head to your local plastic warehouse type place and look for any appropriately sized trays to develop your print in, cat litter trays were recommended by Dennis for example.

And that's basically all you need to get started - chemistry, paper, a brush, objects to block the light for a photogram or a digital negative, glass and a flat piece of plywood, a UV source, a couple of trays and water.

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