Figure 12.1. Transference, cyanotype on fabric and encaustic with mixed media on wood © Kathryn Murphy 2018. “During the 11th and 12th centuries in Nara, Japan the deer that inhabited the forest were believed to be messengers of the gods. Every moment spent tuning in and connecting to nature can open our hearts to the transference of wisdom that is available to those willing to receive. When I start to feel out of tune with my own inner creativity, I take a hike in the woods or a trip to the lake. This always refreshes me and keeps me centered. Having a connection to the natural environment is at the core of all of my work. Even a quick pinch of the geranium plant that I keep nearby and the grounding aroma that follows is sometimes enough to keep me going. I believe it is this connection that opens up the pathways to my inner perception and imagination.
“I was drawn to cyanotypes right away because they are user friendIy and I have the ability to print them in my home studio. Most of my work revolves around my interaction and perception of nature, so using a process that involves printing with the sun fits in conceptually with my art practice.
“I prefer to print on 100% cotton fabric. The softness of the fabric combined with the deep blue of the cyanotype is very appealing. I print my all-ink negatives on an Epson P800 at -30% ink density. I use the classic cyanotype 10/10 formula. Whenever possible I print using the sun; otherwise by UVBL. Development is 5 minutes in vinegar water for the first wash, and then 2 minutes in plain water. My process involves layering the cyanotype with wax onto a wooden panel.
“The key to printing on fabric starts with the brushing on of the cyanotype solution. I place the fabric on a piece of glass and then pour a small amount of cyanotype in the center of the fabric. I then very lightly begin to spread the solution out. If you press too hard the solution tends to ‘pool’ beneath the fabric and it is hard to spread evenly.”
Kathryn Murphy is an artist, nature enthusiast and collector of rocks. Her work inquires into the essential interconnection between the heart, the mind and the natural environment. Her constructed scenes dance lightly between the subconscious realm and reality. She is a mixed media artist who has embraced alternative photographic processes into her art practice. A native of Montana, Murphy currently resides in Bozeman, Montana, where she received her BFA in Studio Arts, Graphic Design and a minor in Photography. To see more of Murphy’s work, visit bluemothcommittee.com.
More Creative Ideas for Cyanotype
Figure 12.2. Butter Fly, digital artwork laser printed on acetate and coated and printed in traditional cyanotype, over-printed in Van Dyke brown, 27.5 × 19 cm © Robyn Davis 2010. Robyn Davis first experimented with cyanotype and Van Dyke brown while at university. Her enthusiasm increased after purchasing The Experimental Photography Workbook (Anderson 2012). Inspired by this book and her personal creative studies, she began experimentation with alternate photography processes. Davis travels extensively throughout Australia collecting inspiration and ideas and continues to push the boundaries of the process.
Printing on alternate surfaces such as fabric, glass, or wood is one way to push the boundaries of the cyanotype process, but there are other creative ways to use the process, and because the chemistry is so cheap you can experiment with abandon without breaking the bank. This chapter only touches the surface of how the chemistry can be used, but hopefully it will provide an impetus to discover new ways not even thought of today.
Printing cyanotype over gold leaf
Dan Burkholder has an excellent video outlining how to gold leaf platinum/palladium prints which applies equally well to cyanotype. The cyanotype is first printed on a transparent vellum paper. After processing and drying, it is painted on the back with a particular adhesive specifically to adhere gold leaf, and then sheets of gold leaf are burnished onto the adhesive. A final spray varnish both transparentizes the print and protects it. Today there is no need to buy genuine 24k gold leaf ($$!) because imitation gold leaf sheets are readily available as are a variety of other “metals” like silver, copper, palladium, and pewter. Note: there is also an 18k gold leaf pen that can be used to draw on the surface of a print. It writes opaque and is good for detail work. In large areas it leaves noticeable strokes, so that is where gold leaf sheets should be used.
Figures 12.3 and 12.4. Tommy Get Your Gun, gold leaf over new cyanotype on Hahnemühle Platinum Rag © Christina Z. Anderson 2018. Krylon makes a very handy and easy to use gold leafing pen under $10. Note that gold leaf is opaque.
Wyndstone, Opalux, or Vidalon vellum paper
Low-tack tape like Scotch Safe Release, Frog Tape, or Kleenedge
Rolco or other brand water-based adhesive
Gold, silver, copper, etc. leaf sheets
Krylon Kamar varnish
Soft brush for the adhesive
Burnisher or spoon
1. Cut a much larger sheet of vellum than necessary, tape the sheet down to the table, and coat a smaller center of the sheet. Let it dry in place taped down.
2. If necessary, use an iron on low or a dry mount press before exposing to flatten the paper.
3. Expose the print for 15–20 minutes CC (5–6 minutes NC) under UVBL. Erring on the side of overexposure is fine to make sure to preserve all the detail in the highlights.
4. Process the print in acidified water as normal.
5. Dry the print between two pieces of blotter paper weighted down with heavy books.
6. Iron or dry mount press the print before coating with adhesive.
7. Turn the print face down and tape the area to be coated so the adhesive stays within the print area.
8. Brush a liberal layer of the adhesive and let it dry. It should be tacky.
9. Take the sheet of gold leaf and place it carefully on top of the adhesive.
10. Burnish it in place with your fingers, the back of a spoon, or a burnisher.
11. Hold the print up to light and see if any areas are missed. If so, take another small bit of the gold leaf and fill that area in. Once this is done, let dry.
12. Outdoors, spray the front and the back side of the print with a light layer of Krylon Kamar Varnish (non-yellowing, archival, removable by conservators). Let dry and spray on another coat, both front and back. The print will be adequately protected and also become more transparent. When the print is complete, trim off any cockled edges.
Sources for gold leaf supplies
Figures 12.5–12.8. Clockwise from top left: Wesley in the Living Room, Oliver at the Table, Edith at the Piano, Vivian in the Yard, cyanotype and gold leaf, 5″ × 7″, from the Reliquary series © Alaina Hickman 2018. “Over the past couple years my family has dealt with a great deal of loss. One of the most difficult was that of our family home. I was unprepared for the emotional impact that leaving behind this physical space would have on us. Leaving this sanctuary was like being torn from a womb. This loss was most evident in family photographs. They became painful reminders of what we had left behind. I created this body of work to help me cope, heal, and move on. I removed the backgrounds in the photographs to symbolize our foundation that had been removed. I printed the photographs in cyanotype, allowing maximum exposure so the negative space became a deep, dark blue, symbolizing the heavy void left by the loss of our home. However, I found that by isolating the subject in this deep void, it brought simplicity and peace to the image and forced the focus to be on what remained. I took that further and painted gold leaf halos on the subjects to emphasize their significance, symbolize sanctity, and to be representational of their saviorhood to me personally. This body of work began as a memorial to what I had lost but became a tribute to what I have.” Alaina Hickman is a maker of things, mother of four, perpetual student, and a self-proclaimed memory hoarder. She received her Associate’s degree in photography from Metropolitan Community College and is the recipient of numerous awards including both a Midwest and National SPE Student Scholarship. Her work has been featured in several exhibits in the Omaha and Lincoln area as well as traveling exhibitions. Hickman is greatly influenced by the shared experiences between her physical and emotional self. Her work explores a combination of themes including motherhood, mortality, and the passage of time.
Figures 12.9–12.11. Far right, City © Mary Anderson 2018. On the left is a stencil design used with the potassium oxalate writing solution to create a white design on a cyanotype. When using stencils it is best to spray the back of the stencil first with a thin layer of repositionable stencil adhesive spray so that the stencil will adhere to the paper without gaps. Let the spray dry. Then, take a sponge or a sponge brush and lightly saturate it with the potassium oxalate solution. Gently dab the stencil design with the solution. It takes a minute for the lightening to appear. Once it is as white as you want it to be, rinse the design under running water with the stencil still in place to remove all the whitening chemistry. Blot dry, and then remove the stencil. This eliminates the chance of the whitening solution bleeding into the surrounding blue area.
Middle is a Pentel Aquash™ water brush which behaves like a fountain pen. The barrel of the pen is refillable and the tip is soft yet firm. Pressing and squeezing will modulate the liquid flow. Right is an example of a design drawn with the Aquash pen. The pen can be used to do all sorts of designs when filled with the potassium oxalate solution. Coat a piece of cyanotype paper and expose it out in the sun until it is maximum blue, process and dry it. Then draw whatever desired, keeping in mind that the solution does not lighten the cyanotype right away so resist the urge to keep adding more solution so that it puddles. Once the design is complete, rinse it face down quickly in warm water to remove the potassium oxalate solution and prevent further whitening, blot the face of the print, and let it dry.
There were quite a few mentions in the historical literature of writing on a cyanotype print with some form of bleaching agent that would make white writing on a blue background. This was done with potassium oxalate—a chemical any platinum printer has on hand—or sodium carbonate, with a little gum Arabic added to give the solution body so it wouldn’t run. The potassium oxalate reduces the blue ferrous ferricyanide to white ferrous ferrocyanide1 and it is quite white.
You can use a fountain pen or calligraphy brush and dip it in the solution, or better yet, get a fillable pen and in place of ink, fill with the bleaching chemistry. Pentel makes an Aquash™ Water Brush in different nylon tip sizes—fine, medium, bold, and flat—that has a handy, squishy, screw top barrel in which you can put the bleaching chemistry. Squeezing the barrel more or less will affect the flow of the bleach, from fine lines to puddles if desired. You can also stencil designs with a sponge stencil brush lightly saturated with solution (too much and it will bleed under the stencil), and pounce the stencil design into the print with the bleach.
The strength of the potassium oxalate solution quoted in the literature seems somewhat immaterial, from 3 to 17%. If you have potassium oxalate developer for platinum/palladium printing lying around, just take a tablespoon of that and add a few drops of gum Arabic to thicken. Otherwise, mix this:2
5 g potassium oxalate or 5 g sodium carbonate (1 teaspoon)
1 g gum arabic powder (½ teaspoon) or ½ teaspoon gum arabic solution (optional)
100 ml water
Figure 12.12. When making your own postcards be aware of the typical placement of addresses, writing, bar codes, and stamps on the back.
1. Add the potassium oxalate to the water and stir until dissolved.
2. Add the gum arabic to the solution and stir until dissolved.
3. Store in a 100 ml bottle.
4. At time of use, either dip a brush, fountain pen, or fill a pen with the solution and write on a dry print.
5. When done, dip the print in water quickly face down and wash off the solution so it doesn’t bleed into the print. Transfer the print to a second tray of clean water, wash the print a few minutes longer and dry.3
Postcards have a long tradition in cyanotype and they are an easy way to send artwork through the mail. Here are some things to keep in mind: a postcard has to be at least the weight of an index card, so any 300 gsm watercolor paper will work. Standard postcard size is 4″ × 6″, which can be sent with a postcard stamp, but postcards can range from 3.5″ × 5″ to 6.125″ × 11.5″. Follow the template here for where to keep areas free on the writing side of the postcard. If you are not into making your own, both Hahnemühle and Strathmore sell readymade postcards made from watercolor paper. What a great way to keep your family in the loop with your art.
Figure 12.13. An Online River press punch comes with various sizes of hole punches. When the punch is pressed down it rotates the “drill” to make the clean hole.
Onlineriver.com makes a very sharp push-punch hollow point drill that comes with assorted sizes of punches. When the punch is pushed down, the drill spins and cuts a round hole. It has a lot of possibilities for creative uses, e.g. for shining light through a print (think Amy Friend/amyfriend.ca), placing the print over colored backing paper, or making clean holes for sewing. The drill bit is quite sharp so place the print on top of cardboard or a towel so as not to mar furniture below.
Handcoloring is perfect for adding color to a cyanotype print. Watercolors, watercolor pencils, oils, pastels, Prismacolor pencils, charcoal, and conté crayons can all be used.
The benefit to using watercolor pencils is precision. The pencil point can be sharpened to get into little teeny areas of color. Then the addition of water softens the stroke marks and blends color effectively. It’s probably the easiest way to handcolor, almost like paint-by-number.
Faber-Castell, Staedtler, Caran d’Ache, Derwent, Prismacolor watercolor pencils Brushes of various sizes to wet and blend the pencil; especially recommended is a medium-size calligraphy brush which ends in a thin point and a very small round, pointed synthetic fiber brush to get into the smallest areas
Q-tips
Cotton balls
Toothpicks
1. Wrap a couple toothpicks with minute pieces of cotton ball and have them handy. These will be used for cleanup.
2. Pencil in the desired area with color. Color softly. Keep pencil tips sharp while coloring. Remember that when the color is moistened it will be more saturated so draw within the lines very carefully and evenly, and avoid extending color into areas you don’t want to color.
3. Clean up any unwanted marks with a white eraser before wetting. If necessary, whittle the eraser to a point for the tiny areas.
4. As soon as the print is colored and cleaned up, take the calligraphy brush, wet it, and squeeze it out so it doesn’t drip. The belly of the brush should be filled with water and the tip twisted to a fine point. Have other size brushes ready to go.
5. Lightly moisten all areas of color with the wet brush and blend the color carefully, rewetting and cleaning the brush when switching colors.
6. If necessary, take a toothpick wrapped in cotton, either wet or dry, to remove any unwanted color.
7. If the color will not remove, dry the print, pencil over the area of color bleed with either white or the color for that area, and then lightly rewet.
8. When the print is finished, hang to dry.
The benefit to photo oils is that the tubes are small so you can get many colors for a reasonable price. The colors are also more concentrated. The detriment is that photo oils are geared for smooth, hard-surfaced b&w paper on which the oils are easy to spread around and blend and mistakes are easy to clean up with either the Marlene solution (trichloroethylene) or the PMS (turpentine) included in the kit. Because cyanotype is printed on watercolor paper it is not quite so easy to move around the paint and clean up areas, so it is important at the offset to be much more careful when coloring and to first size the print with Gamblin PVA or acrylic medium to make the surface smoother.
Gamblin PVA size
Cotton balls, Q-tips, toothpicks
Marlene solution (trichloroethylene), Arista cleaner, or mineral spirits
Extender (if needing to thin the colors)
Wax paper or freezer paper for a paint palette and to protect the work area
Kleenedge or some other low-tack tape, if desired, to protect the edges of the print
White vinyl eraser to clean up small areas
Needle to poke holes into dried pigment tubes
Needle-nose pliers to remove stuck tube caps
1. Size with a layer of Gamblin PVA or acrylic matte medium and dry. Tip: in the 1850s it was common practice to lay the print face down on plate glass and burnish the back of the print with an agate burnisher, rubbing hard, so that the pebbly paper surface on the front of the print flattened and smoothed out.2 This would make the surface harder and less prone to mottle when color is applied. Something like a large spoon could be used, or buy a burnisher at an art supply store.
2. Cover the work area with freezer paper, waxed side up, to protect it if desired, and protect the print if desired by covering the borders with low-tack tape.
3. Prepare a makeshift paint palette of a double thickness of freezer or wax paper to use as a disposable palette. Make this about 4″ × 6″ at least, large enough to mix colors on.
4. Prepare the paints. Squeeze out pea-sized or smaller amounts of colors onto the palette. It is easy to replenish the palette with more paint, but once the colors are squeezed out, they will dry out and be unusable within a day.
5. Mix colors on the palette; use the extender to weaken them if desired.
6. Start the color application. Be subtle. If the color is too dark, weaken it with a cotton ball or Q-tip.
Figure 12.14. Magic Mountains, traditional cyanotype cliché verre, 4¼″ × 7½″ © Suzanne Izzo 2018. Magic Mountains began with a piece of glass onto which I rolled watercolor paint using a brayer. The result was a cliché verre negative. There was no attempt to produce mountains or anything else, but I liked what I saw on the glass and let my imagination take over. So as not to risk damaging the painted glass, I contact printed it to lith film, making both a positive and a negative. This version is from the positive and so replicates the image as seen on the original painted cliché verre negative.”
7. The handcoloring mantra: Go from larger to smaller, top to bottom (if possible), messy to clean. Translated, this means to color the skies and background larger areas first. When the background larger areas are complete, work on the next smaller areas and on down, until the last elements that are handcolored are such things as gold rings, lips, eyes, fingernails, etc. at which point cleanup of paint in unwanted areas begins.
8. Painting is begun with larger tools and finished with smaller tools: large brushes to small brushes, cotton balls to Q-tips to toothpicks wrapped in teeny bits of cotton. To make the latter, wet the end of the toothpick, pick up a smidgen of cotton, and wrap it around the moistened toothpick by spinning the toothpick between your fingers.
9. Color with variety. Avoid using areas of unmodulated color; it looks amateurish.
10. Perfect cleanup is the secret to good handcoloring; investigate the print with a loupe, scrutinizing it closely for any bit of color out of place. Take a toothpick with cotton, dip in the PMS or Marlene solution, and remove the stray color as best as possible. Clean up eye whites, teeth, and highlights.
11. Dry the print in such a way that dust will not collect on the surface and dry into the paint. This can be accomplished by placing the print inside a dust-free plastic bag or box.
There are quite a few cyanotypists nowadays doing different variations of this process, either exposing while the cyanotype coated paper is still wet or exposing a dry, sensitized paper and wetting it while the image is exposing with water or various chemicals to get a watercolor effect.4 A lot of this work is photogram work with actual objects laid on the wet paper out in sunlight.
The paper is coated with cyanotype solution as normal. At time of exposure it can be still wet or a spray bottle with water or mild chemistry like vinegar is sprayed on the paper. The paper is exposed to the negative or objects placed on top. Often the print is overexposed for hours or even a couple days, and then developed as normal. The water adds texture and flow to the image, changes the colors, and each print is unique.
Figures 12.15–12.18. These images, all © Barbara Murray 2018, illustrate the wet cyanotype process where exposure is done while the solution is still wet on the paper and chemistry is also often added while the print is exposing. Clockwise from top left: “For this image I brushed Solution B on the paper and dried it, then exposed with various botanicals for about 30 minutes. Then I applied Solution A on top of and around the edges of the existing items. I sprayed lightly with bleach and exposed for about an hour. As I was moving the items to another location some of the items moved around, leaving ghost images. I then applied more Solution A with a brush and exposed for another hour. For the next image the assembly was sprayed with ammonia and coffee and then after an hour of sun a 50% solution of bleach and water and exposed for another hour. For the bottom right image, the same initial process as the top left was followed, but after the first exposure the surface was painted with Solution A and sprayed with ammonia. After an hour sunlight exposure some items were moved around the paper and more Solution A was painted on. The flower in the corner is the original flower which stuck to the image. For the bottom left image, the initial process followed that of the images top left and bottom right, except the sprays of bleach and ammonia were applied before the first exposure to sun. After an hour in sunlight I painted on Solution A around the edges. After 15 minutes the entire assembly was rearranged and then resprayed with coffee and vinegar, and continued to expose for another two hours.”
Barbara Murray (Cardiff by the Sea California) is a multidisciplinary artist working in printmaking, film photography, and alternative photographic processes. Much of her work involves crossovers between these media, exploration, and experimentation. Her work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions and she has just completed a book of film and digital photographs of the places and things that make her hometown unique. You can find more of her work on her website at heartthread.space and on Instagram @cardiffbabs.
Figure 12.19. Hot Summer Day, salted paper over cyanotype on Hahnemühle Platinum Rag © Christina Z. Anderson 2017
Cyanotype is often used in combination with other processes. This book goes in depth about combining cyanotype with palladium, but it would be impossible to cover every combination process in depth without having the book end up at 500 pages! Nevertheless, it is still important to mention how the process is being used today, with a few image examples, to spur further creative exploration.
Cyanotype is perfect for a foundation layer under tricolor gum or tricolor casein. It serves as the blue layer in a tricolor print. If you are already set up to gum print, it is a no-brainer. The cyanotype layer is printed first on shrunk and unsized paper, processed, and dried. Then the print is sized with either gelatin or PVA and the gum or casein layers are printed on top. See Gum Printing, A Step by Step Manual Highlighting Artists and Their Creative Practice for a full how-to.
Cyanotype can be combined with salted paper to produce very unusual results. The two processes war with one another. When cyanotype solution is coated on a salted paper print there is an immediate bleaching and mottling. It is next to impossible to print cyanotype over salt unless you are going for very experimental results. That is because cyanotype chemistry contains a silver bleach, potassium ferricyanide. You can print salt over cyanotype, though, and even though they aren’t happy bedfellows, the end result is intriguing. The way to make it work is to print a very high contrast cyanotype so that there is only cyanotype remaining in the deepest shadows of the image. Once the cyanotype is finished, it is salted, dried, and then sensitized with silver nitrate. The salt layer should be ½–1 stop overexposed, and then processed as usual, with a final hydrogen peroxide wash to bring back the blue. See Salted Paper Printing, A Step-by-Step Manual Highlighting Contemporary Artists for a full how-to.
Cyanotype can be printed with Vandyke brown. The same scenario applies here as with salted paper, because Vandyke brown is a silver nitrate process.
Figures 12.20 and 12.21. Left, Navigation Without Numbers 7 (homage to Wynn); right, Navigation Without Numbers 8 (homage to Wynn), classic cyanotype on Hahnemühle Sumi-e paper intensified with hydrogen peroxide, approximately 11″ × 14″ © Melanie Walker 2018. “I use classic 50% FAC:35% PF mixed 1/1 at time of use. Sometimes I double the amount of FAC to 100 g to increase sensitivity and speed up exposure times. I have also mixed all ingredients together and made a combined solution. I have also obtained reasonable results coating with FAC only and then coating with PF after exposure. Recently I have been using a Ryonet silkscreen exposure unit with an exposure time of 20–25 minutes. Sun is always a first choice when possible with exposures ranging from 7 to 20 minutes depending on time of year. Generally I use a short still water rinse which is placed in a recycle bin and then followed with a 10- to 15- minute running water rinse. Sometimes I tone with a sodium carbonate bleach followed by green tea toner. Matcha gives beautiful, almost orange tones.”
The creative possibilities for cyanotype are endless. Melanie Walker makes cyanotype kites as well as puppets. Paula Riff prints on unusual “food” papers. Suzanne Izzo scrunches paper and makes “skiatypes” as well as prints from clichés verres. Katsuhiko Inagaki makes cyanotype negatives for inside camera exposures, as does John Beaver (see p. 59). Robyn Davis does multiple manipulations before arriving at her final print. Jocelyn Mathewes sews fabric cyanotypes onto paper cyanotypes. Steffani Frideres attaches metal milagros to cyanotyped fabric prints. Keith Gerling tones and scrapes and slurries casein and cyanotype together. Cyanotype is alive and well in creative practice and this book is merely the tip of the iceberg of the ways the process is used now and will be in the future.
Endnotes
1. Kosar, Jaromir. Light Sensitive Systems: Chemistry and Application of Nonsilver Halide Photographic Processes. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1965, p. 33.
2. Wall, E. J. “The Iron Salts I” in American Photography, Vol. XVI, November 1922, pp. 677–688.
3. Vogel, Dr. E. Practical Pocket-Book of Photography. A Short Guide to the Practice of All the Usual Photographic Processes for Professionals and Amateurs. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd, 1896, pp. 192–193; Brown, George E. Ferric and Heliographic Processes: A Handbook for Photographers, Draughtsmen, and Sun Printers. New York: Tennant & Ward, 1900 [First edition 1900, reprinted 1905, this edition n.d.], p. 96; Tennant, John. A., ed. “The ‘Blue Print’ and its Variations” in The Photo-Miniature, Vol. 1, No. 10, January 1900, p. 495; “Titles on Blue Prints” in Popular Photography, Vol. II. Boston, Massachusetts: F. R. Fraprie, December 1913, p. 104; Bolle, Oscar. “Prints in Turnbull’s Blue” in The Photographic Times, Vol. XXIX. New York: The Photographic Times Publishing Association, December 1897, pp. 579–580.
4. Blacklow, Laura. New Dimensions in Photo Processes, 3rd ed. Boston: Focal Press, 2000, p. 104; Enfield, Jill. Jill Enfield’s Guide to Photographic Alternative Processes, Popular Historical and Contemporary Techniques. Burlington, Massachusetts: Focal Press, 2014, p. 70.
Figures 12.22–12.26. Top to bottom, left to right, Cucumber, Radishes, Kiwi, Orange Peel, Persimmon, from the Earthly Delights series, approximately 5″ × 7″ © Paula Riff 2017. “I am always contemplating the possibilities of coating different natural surfaces and my recent projects involve using different kinds of botanicals, leaves and grasses, so when I came across these beautiful Japanese vegetable and fruit ‘papers’ I wanted to experiment and see how these natural edibles would hold up under the cyanotype process. Earthly Delights is the beginning of an ongoing project using fruits and vegetables and other potential natural findings as substrates for cyanotype and other processes. The most wonderful surprise that occurs when making these is the sculptural shapes they transform into as they dry. They also become incredibly translucent, like stained glass windows when held up in the light.” Paula Riff’s first career did not involve taking pictures. After college, she lived in Tokyo, Japan for several years and upon her return became an interpreter for Japanese production companies in Los Angeles. She switched careers while landing an internship at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the photo department. She also worked at the California Institute of the Arts, taking photos for their publications. Although Riff owns digital and film cameras her new work finds her camera-less, coating her own papers and making photograms.
Figures 12.27 and 12.28. Top, Iridescence #2, classic cyanotype skiatype with gum bichromate, 12″ × 5″ © Suzanne Izzo 1999; bottom, Soaring, classic cyanotype skiatype, 6″ × 11″ © Suzanne Izzo 2018. “Skiatypes are made on paper which, after being coated with emulsion, is crumpled to produce a surface of peaks and valleys. In the sun, the peaks receive the most exposure, slopes less, and deep valleys none. After development, the resulting cyanotype will range from deep blue to the color of the paper support. In Iridescence I often add color in certain areas of the print. After this layer has been developed, the print is coated again with cyanotype emulsion and re-exposed either crumpled or covered with a random-pattern negative to break up the colored areas. In Soaring, the crumpled cyanotype paper was exposed on both sides so that the darkest blue areas on the one side show through the paper to be seen as light blue areas on the other side. The appeal of this technique is that it produces unexpected but interesting results which allow your imagination (and that of other viewers) free rein. Since it is impossible to crumple two pieces of paper exactly the same, each image is truly unique.”
Figures 12.29.–12.30. Left, Gecko; right, In Cape York, digital artwork printed, crushed, photocopied, methylated alcohol poured over paper, more crushing, laser printed on acetate and coated in traditional cyanotype, exposed in sunlight, and hand colored, 27 × 20 cm © Robyn Davis 2018
Figures 12.31 and 12.32. Top, Watering Pot, cyanotype negative-positive process, 55 × 68 mm; bottom, a negative and the resulting positive for Railroad Bridge, cyanotype negative-positive process, 89 × 127 mm © Katsuhiko Inagaki 2018. “To prepare a cyanotype negative, cut transparency film (Pictorico TPS-100) to film size. Classic cyanotype solution is brushed on the film, then dried for an hour. The dried film is set in the camera. I used a PENTAX 6 × 7 with a Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 105 mm/2.4 lens. Typical exposure is 10 hours/f/2.8 for a sunny day. The exposed film is soaked in a 2% citric acid solution for 1–2 minutes, rinsed with tap water for several minutes, and dried. To print the cyanotype from the cyanotype negative, I follow the standard process using the classic cyanotype sensitizer brushed on watercolor paper (Arches 300 gsm). Since the cyanotype negative does not block blue light, I use black light bulbs (UVBLB) from which visible light is filtered. A typical exposure is 30 minutes.”
Katsuhiko Inagaki is an experimental physicist with expertise in condensed matter physics. In 2014, he was appointed as Associate Professor of Physics at the Asahikawa Medical University, Hokkaido, Japan. He also devotes himself to developing physics education apparatus. The cyanotype negative-positive process is firstly intended for use in a laboratory class to learn optics and photosensitive phenomena. The work shown here was produced during his improvement of the process. To see his work, visit https://500px.com/katsuhikoinagaki.
Figure 12.33. Pluto’s inversion, cyanotype on fabric embroidered onto cyanotype on paper, 9″ × 12″ © Jocelyn Mathewes 2015. To see more of Mathewes’ work, visit www.jocelynmathewes.com.
Figure 12.34. Carrots: Bless the meat, damn the skin, open your mouth and cram it in, cyanotype with embroidery and charms, 6″ × 4″ © Steffani Frideres 2018. “I combine historical nursery rhymes and or children’s songs and cyanotype prints on cloth from old glass plate negatives from the early 1900s. Each photographic image is stitched and embroidered onto found lace doilies, linen dustcovers or other cloth items. Then using embroidery thread, I sew the rewritten nursery rhymes into the cloth. The text is chosen and altered to complement the photographic images, changing or manufacturing a false story that becomes part of the photograph. This narrative allows me to alter and assign a new story to each of the images whose original identity has been lost though time. Each piece also has a variety of charms or metal milagros attached which support layered interpretations of the narrative.” Steffani Frideres completed her undergraduate BFA at the University of Calgary in Canada, and then her MFA from Washington State University in 1990. Currently, Frideres teaches photography and art at LSC-Tomball, Texas. To see more of her work, visit Steffanifrideres.com.
Figures 12.35 and 12.36. Left, Remnants III; right, Remnants IV, casein over cyanotype, toned/developed/distressed in a tannin-rich slurry of hardwood sawdust, chips and leaves, reprinted in cyanotype, toned, etc., 10″ × 10″ © Keith Gerling 2017. “These photographs were all taken on the same day within feet of each other in an overgrown, long abandoned farm in northern Indiana.”