Figure 13.1. The importance of choosing the right paper for cyanotype cannot be overestimated. Here is another image I use to test papers; although it originated from the first digital camera I ever owned, a Sony Cybershot 5 megapixel point and shoot camera, the image has a range of tones from highest highlights to deepest shadows that can test the mettle of any paper. The top two papers are unsuitable papers. They print dull, grainy, washed out prints. They would need to be acidified and probably double-coated to work effectively. What a waste of time to do so when there are so many beautiful papers that don’t require such machinations, such as the bottom paper.
Figure 13.2. This is a beautiful image of the splotching that has plagued some new cyanotype users as of late. Image courtesy of Annette Golaz.
Cyanotype is an easy process, perfect for a beginner, but it is a process that requires some attention to detail to make an expert print. By far the most common problem encountered is a dull, washed-out gray-blue, grainy print that is slow to expose, and by far the most common cause is a poor paper choice and not using acidified water development. A multitude of sins can be covered by a good paper developed in some form of acidified water. There are, however, other issues that can crop up. This chapter addresses the most common issues and solutions.
• The FAC solution has turned blue
• The FAC solution is moldy
• FAC and PF when mixed turns blue
• Paper turns blue while drying
• The exposure is extremely slow
• The print is underexposed
• The print is overexposed
• The cyanotype print washes off
• The shadows bleed into the highlights
• The print is too low contrast
• The print is too high contrast
• The print is grainy
• The highlights are fogged blue
• There are lavender stains in the print
• The highlights are yellowed
• The print is mottled
• The print is dull
• The prints are inconsistent
• There are blue spots or streaks
• The print is splotchy or crystallized
• There are round white spots in the print
• The shadows are solarized
• The image is unsharp
• There are blue stains
• The print has faded
The FAC solution has turned blue
Ferric ammonium citrate is a chartreuse green (the green form) and stays that color both in powder form and in solution if stored in light safe conditions. FAC lasts a long time. It is hygroscopic, and in humid climates the powder can absorb moisture and become a sticky lump. It still works fine. However, if an FAC solution turns blue in the bottle, contamination of some sort is the culprit, whether by light or by chemistry. Light is easy to control; the solution should always be stored in a brown glass bottle in the dimroom. Chemical contamination is a harder issue to sleuth.
• If the FAC is contaminated by acid it can create iron citrate, which is blue.1 When working with citric acid keep it away from your stock solution. I had this happen once after I had weighed citric acid crystals on my coating table. A few of the crystals were inadvertently left on the table and the next print I coated had little crystal-like spots of blue show up immediately upon coating.
• If anything other than distilled water has been used to mix the FAC solution, it can become contaminated because there are lots of minerals, including iron, in tap water. Always use distilled water to make the solution.
• The storage bottle can be contaminated, which can happen if it has been used to store other chemistry, or if the cap has a paper seal that has absorbed other chemistry. Wash the bottle with distilled water before filling with fresh chemistry.
Figure 13.3. Clockwise from top left: normal cyanotype solution, then solution purposely contaminated with citric acid, sodium carbonate, and tartaric acid. Keep your coating area clean of all flecks of chemistry.
Remove any paper seal or, better, use a cap that has a plastic seal. Soak the eyedropper of an eyedropper bottle in distilled water occasionally to remove any potential contamination.
FAC in solution will grow mold. The mold looks like black or brown globs of muck which streak on the paper surface when coating. FAC solution can also become sour and smelly. This is only true of FAC; PF in solution does not mold or go bad.
• Run the solution through a funnel lined with filter paper, something even as simple as a coffee filter, return the solution to the bottle, and keep using it.
• Store the FAC solution in the fridge and measure out smaller 100 ml bottles at a time.
• Add 1–2 drops formalin per 100 ml of solution if you normally have this in your dimroom.
• Add several drops of 100% thymol (10 g thymol in 10 ml methyl or rubbing alcohol) per 100 ml of the solution. This is what I use since I have it in my darkroom at all times for preserving gum Arabic. It keeps indefinitely. It is very minty-pungent. Caveat: do not get thymol solution anywhere near plastics including contact lenses and food processors because it will dissolve certain plastics like that of which a food processor bowl is made.
Figures 13.4–13.6. Left, a comparison between a good paper (background) and an unsuitable paper (foreground) for new cyanotype. This particular paper turned blue almost immediately and continued to darken within the hour of drying time. The resulting print was fogged blue all over, interesting because this paper is not buffered and works great for classic cyanotype. It’s not always the buffering that causes fogging. The middle image pair is Canson Bristol Recycled coated with new cyanotype. The solution fogged immediately only on certain paper fibers and the resulting print had speckled highlights, thus an unusable paper for new cyanotype though it works fine for classic. On the right is an illustration of how alkalinity affects paper suitability; the same paper was soaked in citric acid (left) and sodium carbonate (right) before coating with cyanotype solution and it is apparent which sheet turned blue right away.
• Add Listerine or rubbing alcohol, 5 ml per 100 ml solution.
FAC and PF WHEN mixed turns blue
I have not seen this in my practice perhaps because I use glass bottles, distilled water, and fresh chemistry. Others have, and you can make it happen just by adding a pinch of tartaric acid to a ml of combined solution. Instant blue.
• If anything other than distilled water has been used to mix the solution, it can become contaminated. Always use distilled water to make the solution.
• The storage bottle is contaminated, which can happen if it has been used to store other chemistry, or if the cap has a paper seal that has absorbed other chemistry. Use brown storage bottles and wash them with distilled water before filling with fresh chemistry. Remove the paper seal or, better, use a cap that has a plastic seal.
• Iron contamination has happened somewhere, either from the bottle, mixing implements, or the environment. However, it is a myth that using stainless steel mixing implements is problematic.
• The FAC or PF is somehow contaminated. If this is the case the blue will happen instantly upon mixing. With poor storage, FAC may start to become ferrous, PF may start to turn to potassium ferrocyanide, and either change will result in formation of Prussian blue on mixing, without uv exposure. Buy fresh from a reputable chemistry store and see if the problem disappears.
If the solution is bright green when brushing on the paper and then turns blue instantly or slowly so that upon exposure it is quite blue, it is most always a paper issue. Any hint of blue while drying indicates chemical fog.2 One paper I tested, Canson Bristol Recycled, did the most amazing thing when coated. Only certain fibers in the paper turned dark blue. The paper then printed with fibrous blue specks. Though this paper worked great with classic cyanotype, new cyanotype highlighted the problem immediately.
• The paper is unsuitable, because it contains alkalis, buffers, alum, or some other ingredient, so choose a different paper next time. Go ahead and expose and process the print as usual if only a little blue; it will still result in an acceptable print. If the coating is really blue, it will result in a fogged print, especially with new cyanotype. The paper will need to be pre-acidified before use (see the Papers for Cyanotype chapter on how to do this) or with new cyanotype, citric acid drops can be added to the solution to alleviate this with a number of papers (see the New Cyanotype chapter).
The exposure is extremely slow
Classic cyanotype is slow to expose, one of the slowest alt processes of all. New cyanotype is easily two stops faster. A normal CC exposure can be around 20–30 minutes UVBL, NC around 5 minutes. If CC takes far longer, the culprit is most often paper choice.
• Buffered papers print the slowest. Switch papers.
• Pre-humidify the paper before coating; this results in a faster paper by at least ⅓ stop.
• Acidified water development contributes to faster speed. Use vinegar or citric acid for classic cyanotype and citric or sulfamic acid for new or combination (swc) cyanotype to maximize exposure.
• Use a less concentrated FAC. A 10/10 CC formula often is faster than a 20/10 CC formula, and a diluted NC formula (mixed to 150 or 200 ml) is often faster than a 100 ml solution.
• The negative is too dense. Use a lower ink density, up to -20% for an Epson 3880 or -30% for an Epson P800.
• Pictorico Ultra was used instead of Pictorico Premium; the Ultra is denser.
• If printing with a film negative, some films have uv-blocking layers. Film negatives developed in pyro developer are also slow.
• The contact frame glass was accidentally replaced with uv-resistant glass. This happened at our university and it was weeks before we figured it out. Make sure all contact frame glass is normal, cheap, non-uv resistant.
• The potassium ferricyanide is old. I have read conflicting opinions on whether potassium ferricyanide gets old, some saying it turns into potassium ferrocyanide, which is yellow and not ruby red. Some red and orange is OK but no yellow. Buy fresh potassium ferricyanide.
• The light source is problematic. Test this by exposing a print in direct sun to compare. It probably goes without saying to check that all your UVBL bulbs are operating.
All of the reasons discussed under The Exposure is Extremely Slow applies here. In the olden days, when sun was weak, and photographers were printing outside during winter, etc., a print that was underexposed was intensified by immersion in ferric chloride, silver nitrate, or iron sulfate (3.5 parts to 1000 parts water).3 Nowadays with UVBL boxes we have it made!
• See the low tech and high tech ways of finding exposure times in the Digital Negatives for Cyanotype chapter and be sure to calculate a standard printing time for each and every paper.
• Always err on the side of overexposure. If the print is slightly overexposed it can be washed slightly longer to lighten it, but it can never be washed less to darken it.
• Double print the paper by registering the negative on top of the pale print and reprinting.
• Use the back of the paper to make another print.
• Print another process on top.
• Wash the paper a really long time to remove most of the image, or bleach it in sodium carbonate and wash it thoroughly and reuse the paper.
• If exposing by the sun, sunlight varies remarkably and therefore so will exposure time. It is not the temperature outside that is the problem—as Dr. Ware told me once, optical photons don’t feel the cold, and I proved him right by successfully exposing prints outside in -20°F weather—it is the strength of the sun, and winter sun between 10AM and 2PM is a lot weaker than summer sun at the same time. With sun exposure, always do an exposure test strip before exposing your print.
Sometimes this happens, especially with misjudging sun exposure. It can be rectified somewhat with a longer water wash (sometimes all day!) in warm to hot water,4 but you can also resort to chemical measures by bleaching the print with a weak alkaline bath and then restoring the blue in an acid bath afterwards; the original density will not return in full. It only takes perhaps ½–1 ml of ammonia to a liter, or perhaps ¼ teaspoon of sodium carbonate to a liter, after which use a couple teaspoons of citric acid to a liter to restore the color.5 It’s a stop gap measure, not best practice.
The cyanotype print washes off
The obvious answer to this problem is underexposure (see above) but if that is not the case, look to three causes.
• The paper was coated but the coating dried too fast before the solution had time to absorb in the paper fibers—a problem in the winter, in dry climates, or using a blow dryer too soon to dry the coating. Pre-humidify the paper, or prewet it with a couple teaspoons of water to “soften” the surface of a hard-sized paper before coating, and don’t use a blow dryer.
• The paper is unsuitable, perhaps too well surfaced sized. Use the techniques above.
• Too much FAC is used in the mix (e.g. a 20/10 mix as opposed to a 10/10). As was said by Channing Whitaker in 1883, “The same blue results on the same paper with different proportions of the chemicals, with excess PF slower but finer, excess of FAC is faster, but too much and whites become stained with iron and paper fogs and is redder blue which does not adhere to the paper but can be washed off with a sponge.”6 I used see wash off on Hahnemühle Platinum Rag paper in the winter months with the 20/10 cc. When I switched to 10/10 the problem disappeared instantly.
• Use 1–2 drops of a 5% dilution of Tween 20™ per ml. Tween is a surfactant which helps the chemistry absorb into the paper better.
The shadows bleed into the highlights
The number one cause of bleeding is using too much Solution A/ferric ammonium citrate in relation to Solution B/potassium ferricyanide.7 See the discussion about this issue in the Classic Cyanotype chapter. As long as Solution A:Solution B is no greater than 2:1, and better yet, 1.5:1 or 1:1, this problem will be minimized or non-existent with even a hard-sized paper.
Figure 13.7. Bleeding, caused by using too great a proportion of FAC to PF in classic cyanotype.
Low contrast can happen because of chemical fog due to an unsuitable paper, which will result in dull blue highlights, especially an issue with using NC on alkaline papers. This can be seen immediately before exposure in the hour the paper is drying: it goes from a chartreuse green to blue within the hour. Other causes are:
• A too-low ink density was chosen for the negative; use no less than a -20% for an Epson 3880 and a -30% for an Epson P800; or, use a 0% instead.
• The chemistry is contaminated. Make sure the chemistry is made with distilled water, and it is fresh and fairly clear.
• The print is overexposed and dull. Wash longer.
• The print is not processed in an acidic bath, and it will not have nice, deep darks. Use acids in the water wash.
• The coated paper has been kept too long before exposure which will result in lower contrast and less deep Dmax. Coat only as much paper as you will use in a day or so and store any unused paper in lightsafe bags and even in the fridge. This becomes more crucial in humid climates.
The print is too high contrast
Contrast is usually handled at the negative stage. Using a correct negative curve and a lowering of the ink density takes care of high contrast issues.
• Prehumidify the paper. This will allow the solution to sink into the paper better.
• Use a 15/10 or a 10/10 CC solution instead of 20/10 and you will notice an increased exposure scale (ES) and the highlights will print beautifully.
Figures 13.8 and 13.9. On the left is a side-by-side example of two step wedges, a grainy, unsuitable paper choice and a smooth suitable paper choice; grain in this case is paper-related. On the right is a cut-and-paste of unhumidified paper and prehumidified paper, all else the same. Moral to the story: choose a proper paper and humidify it.
• Look to paper choice. Papers that absorb the chemistry will print a much longer, more beautiful exposure scale. Papers that are unbuffered do the same. Thinner papers absorb chemistry better as a general rule than watercolor papers which are fairly well surface sized.
• Use a stronger acid water bath. For CC use more vinegar or citric acid. For NC use sulfamic acid instead of citric acid.
• Contrast can be somewhat reduced by delayed exposure and delayed development, but watch that the Dmax doesn’t lessen to produce a less deep blue.
• Other suggested methods are to dilute the solution with water, pre-coat the paper with a 1% acid, or print in direct sun.8
Grain can look like an all-over, unappealing graininess in the entire image, highlights to shadows, or merely minute white speckles in the deepest shadows of the print, microscopic and pin-pricky, with a certain allure.
• Choose an appropriate paper. Some mixed fiber papers pick up the solution differentially. Certain papers (eliminated from the paper chapter) print unusually grainy no matter what.
• Prehumidify the paper and it will print very smooth tones. A mere tray of water with a screen on top and another tray to form a lid makes a great humidity chamber!
• Use a more absorbent paper.
• It goes without saying to use an unbuffered paper.
• If the paper is soft, coat carefully, with more solution, brushing gently so as not to abrade the paper.
• Switch to swc or new cyanotype. Classic cyanotype is grainier in general. Ferric ammonium citrate molecules are larger and they don’t absorb into the paper as well.
• Use a 15/10 or a 10/10 classic cyanotype formula instead of a 20/10.
• Tween 20™ helps the solution absorb better; use 1-2 drops of a 5% dilution of Tween 20™ per ml.
Figures 13.10 and 13.11. The image above shows how Tween 20™, which helps paper absorb chemistry even if not humidified, can sometimes result in deeper Dmax; thus the use of Tween 20™ is a win/win. On the right is a cut-and-paste of an exposed print on prehumidified paper (left) and the same on unhumidified paper, right, all else equal. This shows the benefit of prehumidification for the smoothest tones possible, a practice even more necessary with inabsorbent papers and low humidity dim rooms.
The highlights are fogged blue
This problem is readily apparent in a print that lacks brilliance and paper white.
• Make sure the negative is dense enough with a correct ink density and that it is not -20% when -10% or 0% would have been better.
• Unsuitable paper. If a paper is unsuitable the coating solution will almost always turn blue before exposure, and usually within an hour. That blueness will translate to blue fog. Use a suitable paper, to acidify an unsuitable paper (see Papers for Cyanotype) or to add citric acid to the coating solution (see New Cyanotype).
• It has been said blue fog is from an excess of potassium ferricyanide in the sensitizer9 but I don’t think we see this anymore because we don’t use an excess. In any case, the 10/10 formula is fine because I never see it.
• Too much light exposure after coating and before exposure. Cyanotype has a lot of tolerance for room light, but to test this, coat a piece of paper and leave it out in room light for an extended period of time (an hour?) and then water wash it without exposure to see if there is any hint of something other than paper white.
• The sensitizer has gone bad. Usually if this is the cause it will be dark blue and noticeable while coating.
• If highlights turn blue after development, while drying, the print was not washed long enough, or the wash water was too cold; use warm water and longer wash times for difficult clearing papers and wash past the point of yellow in the highlights disappearing.
• Coated paper was kept too long before exposure, or too long after exposure before development. Usually the former is worse than the latter.
• Too strong an acid development. This is an easy thing to test: try using two full teaspoons of citric acid in the first water bath instead of ½ teaspoon and a CC print may fog blue in the highlights. An NC print will not, as it thrives in stronger acids.
• The literature says an excess of FAC has the potential to fog10 and a print can be developed in 0.2% potassium ferricyanide and then well washed to raise contrast.11 I have not tried this.
Figures 13.12 and 13.13. On the left, the strip cut and pasted into the middle of this image illustrates the result of a fogged paper and new cyanotype. On the right, an extreme instance of lavender stains due to high humidity, exposing while the print was still dampish, moisture developing in the contact frame, alkaline water wash, you name it.
There are lavender stains in the print
Lavender highlights or stains are indicative of alkalinity, moisture, or long sun exposure12 (which can build up moisture in the contact frame). The alkalinity can originate in the paper itself or a contaminated tray or the water supply.
• Make sure the print is dry enough before exposing.
• Make sure there is no condensation of moisture in the print frame when exposing in full sun.
• Make sure the trays are clean of all alkalinity including fixer remnants.
• Make sure the paper is suitable and an unbuffered paper good for cyanotype.
• Always, have enough acid on hand and use more acid in the washing. An easy test for this is to just put a drop of vinegar on the lavender area and see if it turns blue.
Yellowed highlights relate to iron left in the print.
• The print has not been washed long enough. Some papers clear quickly and some take longer; keep records of this.
• Use warm water and constant agitation when developing a print. Change water as soon as it has yellowed. Only for the final minutes of the water wash does the print lie still in the water.
• Note that new cyanotype as a general rule should not be developed in plain water or weakly acidic water because most papers will turn yellow to tan brown in the highlights. New cyanotype requires a stronger acid bath such as 1% citric or 1% sulfamic.
Mottling is different than splotching. Mottling is a very regular pattern of uneven tones resembling chilled flesh.
• Poor paper choice. The papers that have mottled have always been less than suitable papers. I have no idea why, but I never see it on unbuffered papers.
• Sulfamic acid development with some papers has not been carried to completion. I have seen this happen as if the acidic development didn’t “do its thing” long enough and to all parts of the paper so it results in an uneven, regular mottling pattern, mostly visible in the midtones to highlights.
Figure 13.14. This is what it looks like on the front and back of the paper when it has not been washed sufficiently!
• Too much coating solution with a textured, cold press paper. The solution settles in the hills and valleys of the paper texture and creates different densities of blue.
• A gray mottle all over the print which often appears quite rapidly indicates a paper that has not been cleared enough.
A dull print lacks deep darks and detailed highlights. There is overlap with this malady and a fogged and low contrast print.
• The print has not been exposed long enough to get a deep Dmax. See Digital Negatives for Cyanotype on how to determine correct exposure time.
• The negative has not been prepared correctly: the curve could be accidentally inverted, the colorspace is other than Adobe 1998, the chosen ink density is too low.
• A dull print that is pale and bland most often relates to an unsuitable paper. After printing 136 papers in both classic and new cyanotype with the same step wedges, the same developments, and the same image, the number one problem for a dull print is paper choice. A buffered paper often results in a dull, blue-gray, short exposure scale (ES) print. Consult the paper chapter for the best paper choices.
Figure 13.15. Mottling is paper-caused. This particular paper showed the uneven acceptance of the solution right after exposure.
Figure 13.16. Iron left in the paper due to a very absorbent and unsuitable paper that would not release the chemistry. This same look will result from any incompletely washed paper.
• Acidic development was not used. Plain water in general will produce a duller, shorter exposure scale print. With classic cyanotype a mere vinegar or citric acid water wash will lift a print from dull to brilliant. With new cyanotype a mere citric acid or sulfamic acid bath will do the same. This has been in the literature for over a century, as Channing Whitaker said in 1897, “A few drops of a small quantity of any organic acid will make the finished print more brilliant.”13
• Water is alkaline. If your midtones to highlights are brown and the blues are dull, worry about your water supply. Do a comparison print with distilled water and see if there is a difference. Alkaline water will bleach a print to a dull color. “Wash water should be free from calcareous salts, which convert the iron into carbonates which impart an ochrey tinge to the proof.”14 You can use more acid to acidify it or resort to using distilled or rain water.
• Too long a water wash. Watch the print while it is washing and don’t extend the wash longer than necessary.
Figure 13.17. To the left in a scan of an extremely alkaline and unsuitable paper compared with a suitable paper on the right. You will note that development on an alkaline paper will happen quickly and result in this ugly bleaching effect.
If practice is completely consistent but, all of a sudden, results are inconsistent, suspect changes in the paper at the manufacturer level, changes in the water supply at the water plant level (e.g. between winter and summer), or changes in the makeup of ferric ammonium citrate (FAC) which can be inconsistent. One author recommended to stir up the cyanotype solution before use to make sure the ingredients are always mixed in the same proportion when coating.15
Figure 13.18. A dull, pale, yellowed print from too much washing and an unsuitable paper.
There are blue spots or streaks
• Air bells, caused by not agitating the print well enough while it is in the water bath. The characteristic look of an air bell is that it is quite smooth and circular, like a bubble. Unfortunately, it can be really large or small, and once it’s there there is no way to fade it unless you wash the print longer which in turn fades the whole print commensurately.
• Contaminated brush. At the end of every coating session soak the brush standing up in a cup of plain water; that way the chemistry diffuses out of the brush. A stitched ferrule brush doesn’t mind a long soak in water. A brush with a metal ferrule, though, may rust and create problems.
• Free iron in the water can cause blue streaks when coating16 but hopefully solutions have been made with distilled water so no tap water comes near the print before development.
• Mold chunks in Solution A will streak dark marks across the print. Brush them away to the edge of the coating area and use thymol, Listerine, or rubbing alcohol in your Solution A to prevent mold.
Figures 13.19 and 13.20. Splotches, mottling, and crystals: the top left image illustrates the dreaded irregular dendritic splotching. Splotches are different than crystals though causes are potentialy related. The first two bottom strips show crystals from an incorrectly mixed new cyanotype, before and after exposure; the coating crystallized all over the surface of the paper, leaving sharp, white spots. The middle step wedge is the more subtle regular mottling, an overall pattern of uneven tones most apparent in the highlights of a print, and almost always a paper issue, also different from splotching and crystallization. The far right step wedge shows the irregular splotches.
The print is splotchy or crystallized
Splotching—lighter, irregularly shaped areas with branching, “dendritic” or fibrous edges—is a sporadic and frustrating issue with new cyanotype (not classic cyanotype). It can happen on a variety of papers and intermittently on the same paper, including the good ones, so it is not a result of paper unsuitability. It is not an exposure issue because it is slightly visible on coated but unexposed paper. Since the splotches are visible before and after exposure and before development, it is not a development issue. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, there are no firm conclusions as to splotching’s cause.
Dr. Ware has offered one explanation: “Splotching must be due to some non-uniformity in the paper sheet, causing a differential absorption of sensitizer, or retention of pigment, over adjacent areas. Different coating weights cause different image densities. This paper non-uniformity could have several possible origins: inadequate beating and consequent flocculation of the pulp; uneven addition of sizing agent or other additive to the stock; localized hydrophobic contamination of the formed sheet by contact; random growth of colonies of micro-organisms (especially fungi) within or between the cellulose fibres: i.e. biofouling—either at the mill or on storage.”17
Its intermittency may suggest multiple factors operating at once; for instance, it is possible to conjure splotching at will by using a thick coating of a full strength (100 ml) NC dilution on an unabsorbent, un-humidified paper coated without Tween and laid flat to dry, six variables. One other variable may rest with the ferric ammonium oxalate itself, because splotching is an issue with printing out palladium and chrystotype which use FAO, too.
Though the cause is unclear, a few of us have pooled our experience on ways we have been able to minimize or avoid splotching entirely, with pre-humidification of the paper being the first line of defense.
Figure 13.21. On the left and middle are enlarged details of a coated piece of paper before and after exposure, showing these splotches. Far right is the full print after exposure, with sporadic splotches everywhere. Once this happens, unfortunately the print is only destined for the trash bin.
• It goes without saying to mix the new cyanotype formula according to directions, and filter out the insoluble potassium ferric oxalate, so there’s no chance of it falling out of solution and crystallizing on the paper surface, creating areas of less sensitivity. [Note: splotches and crystals both result in spots on the print, but the former is dendritic-edged and the latter is sharp-edged. Although they are different phenomena, the techniques to alleviate dendritic splotching also alleviate crystals; hence the conflation of the two phenomena in this section.]
• Pre-humidify the paper. Construct a humidity chamber: fill a tray with water, place a screen on top on which the paper can rest, and invert another tray on top of that to lock in the moisture (courtesy of Sam Wang) several hours before a coating session or even overnight. Alternately, a tray of hot tap water for 20–30 minutes before coating will work but watch condensation on the inverted tray which can drip on the print. This minimizes splotching and greatly minimizes graininess with CC, NC, and swc. A far smoother print results.
• Never shake the bottle of cyanotype solution before use and draw solution from the top of the bottle to avoid drawing up any potential sludge from the bottom of the bottle if there is any.
• Dilute new cyanotype to 150 or 200 ml instead of the formula’s 100 ml.
• Coat with a combination of classic and new cyanotype (swc). Splotches that are apparent after exposure often minimize during development with this formula, as if the classic part of the equation covers a multitude of sins.
• Use 1 drop of 5% Tween per ml of solution to improve paper absorption. Tween (introduced by Dr. Ware to alt pro use) is a surfactant that allows the sensitizer to penetrate the paper better.
• Shake the measured out coating solution well (i.e. not the bottles of solution but what’s going to be coated on the paper) just before coating the paper so the chemicals are evenly dispersed.
• Keep the dimroom humid enough so the solution has a chance to sink into the paper fibers and not dry too quickly on the paper surface; 40–50% humidity is perfect. Let the paper dry in this environment for 20–30 minutes before exposure.
• Sensitize paper with a thin, not thick, coating of new cyanotype so there is no pooling of chemistry on the paper surface, e.g. even as low as 1¼ ml 2 ml for an 11″ × 15″! An often quoted “alt pro” rule of thumb is 1 drop every 2 square inches, but 1 drop per 3–6 square inches may be best on some papers (not washi!). Often splotches as well as crystals appear in the borders of the print where the solution is thicker. Dr. Ware in an email conversation said that if the coating is allowed to stand on the paper without being promptly absorbed, it evaporates and can leave these crystals (possibly of potassium ferric oxalate or potassium ferricyanide). The reason new cyanotype may be more prone to this is because both FAO and PF can crystallize, whereas in classic cyanotype only PF is capable of crystallization.18
• Hang the paper to dry, don’t dry it flat. That way free air circulation keeps the paper moisture even throughout the paper, and hanging prevents pooling of the solution. Be sure to wait until the paper has absorbed the solution and appears slightly matte, not wet, before hanging to dry, to avoid migration of the wet coating to the bottom of the print which will result in uneven density.
• It is possible that the citric acid recommended in the mix may help, though I have not run tests to prove this. See the New Cyanotype chapter.
There are round white spots in the print
• Paper that is heavily sized can “fish eye” while coating because the solution doesn’t want to sink into the paper fibers. Just continue brushing and brushing until the fish eyes disappear.
• A quick fix for smaller white spots are spotting them out with Prismacolor pencils or watercolors, or even dip a brush in cyanotype solution, spot, expose, and rinse!19
• Overexposure. Solarization of the deepest shadows mostly turns to dark blue when the print is developed. If there are areas of lighter blue in the dark blue that look reversed, the print is overexposed and exposure should be shortened. Expose a cyanotype only as much as it needs to get the darkest blue possible, not too much so the darkest blue begins to lighten. As Channing Whitaker said, “There is a time of exposure that produces the deepest blue and with overexposure the blue gradually turned to gray but that being within several minutes of that optimum exposure is fine.”20
Figures 13.22–13.26. (From top to bottom) White spots in a print because the coating area was contaminated with stray citric acid crystals. Initially this created blue spots in the coating. Next, water spots caused by having the print drying area too close to the water wash area. Next, hydrogen peroxide fingerprints from developing a print and then handling a coated piece of paper; luckily the fingerprints did not appear in the finished print. Any type of acidic water on fingers will do this. Next, the coating solution pooled or “bloomed” back into the print area, leaving white and dark blotches. Finally, a large round spot from an air bubble, caused by leaving a print face down in the water wash without continuous agitation.
Figure 13.27. Solarizing/bronzing due to overexposure. I left this cc print outside all day with a dinner plate on top, which I moved during the exposure. The photograph on the left is before development and on the right after development. You can see the successive lightening of the blue with gross overexposure.
• Incomplete contact of the paper with the negative. I find this happens with a paper like a vellum or a delicate weight paper that wrinkles when coated. Those papers really have to be coated very carefully, coated in the center of the paper, leaving large uncoated borders, and then potentially trimmed before printing to get rid of the cockled edges. Some papers are so bad they need to be pressed flat in a dry mount press before exposing, or with a “poor woman’s dry mount press” aka iron.
• The contact frame has lost its “oomph.” Over the years use one, then two, then several pieces of paper inside the contact frame to make a tighter contact. This low tech fix works wonders as does an extra piece of felt.
• There is a chemical reason for areas of “fuzz”: in the process, carbon dioxide gas is released, and it can form a bubble between the negative and the paper and cause loss of sharpness. If the contact frame has a felt backing which can absorb the gas, you probably won’t see this.21
• Cyanotype is the one process that is easy to clean up. It is so susceptible to fading with alkalis that a simple alkaline cleaner will remove stains on hands, sinks, bathtubs, clothes, etc. Use ammonia or sodium carbonate/washing soda, for instance. Another way is to mix two solutions: Solution A is 10 parts oxalic acid in 100 parts water Solution B is 12.5 parts potassium hydroxide in 100 parts water. These are mixed together at time of use to make a cleaning compound.22 This is quite caustic. Also, if you happen to have EDTA and sodium sulfite on hand, those mixed together in solution work, too.
Prints fade because of sunlight, alkalis, water, and residual iron. Sunlight fading is reversible; the others are not.
• Frame the cyanotype print behind uv-resistant glass or Plexiglas and do not hang it in direct sunlight. Prussian blue (ferrous ferricyanide) converts to colorless Prussian white (ferrous ferrocyanide) in the presence of intense sunlight, but thankfully it reverts back to Prussian blue in dark, cool storage. If the print has faded in the sun, return it to dark storage until it regains its dark blue color. This is fun to test: put a throwaway print out in the sun, half-covered with something opaque. Within a day of full sunlight, the bleaching is quite dramatic, but after a few days in dark storage the image regains its depth. A dilute solution of hydrogen peroxide will also help the print regain its blue more quickly.23
Figure 13.28. Scan of a small 4″ print left out half-covered for a full day of sun exposure, and then brought into the dark to recover. Scan on the right is the same print after two weeks in the dark.
• A buffered mat board has been used. Always mat cyanotypes in unbuffered mat boards.
• The cyanotype has been stored in a buffered archival box. Always store in unbuffered conditions.
• Extended contact with water such as by over-washing a print or (perish the thought) a flood where the print remains submerged in water for an extended period of time will fade a print to a pale blue-gray or yellow. Unfortunately, once the cyanotype washes out of the print it is down the drain so avoiding water contact is a must.
• Not developing and washing the print long enough so that iron is left in the paper, which will cause it to fade and the highlights to turn gray.24 Be scrupulous with your development times and baths and don’t under-wash.
Endnotes
1. Worthington, J. C. and J. C. Millen. The Photographic Primer, A Manual of Practice. Riverton: The Riverton Press, 1897, p. 128.
2. Barnier, John. Coming Into Focus, a Step-by-Step Guide to Alternative Photographic Printing Processes. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000, p. 43.
3. “The Workroom-Cyanotype” in The Photographic Journal of America, Vol. LV. Philadelphia: Edward L. Wilson Company, Inc., February 1918, pp. 93–94.
4. R. W. K. G. “Ferro-Prussiate Dodges” in The Photographic News, The Journal for Amateur Photographers, Vol. XLI. London: Photographic News, November 26 1897, p. 778.
5. Tennant, John. A., ed. “The ‘Blue Print’ and its Variations” in The Photo-Miniature, Vol. 1, No. 10, January 1900, pp. 481–514; Farber, Richard. Historic Photographic Processes, A Guide to Creating Handmade Photographic Images. New York: Allworth Press, 1998, p. 68; “The Workroom-Cyanotype”, pp. 93–94.
6. Whitaker, Channing. “Apparatus for Printing by the Blue Process” in The Photographic News, Vol. XXVII. London: Piper and Carter, December 7 1883, p. 359.
7. Ibid.
8. James, Christopher. The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes. New York: Delmar Cengage, 2016, p. 173.
9. Tennant, p. 498.
10. Whitaker, p. 359.
11. Wall, E. J. Photographic Facts and Formulas. Boston: American Photographic Publishing Co., 1924, p. 260.
12. Ware, Mike. Cyanomicon II, History, Science and Art of Cyanotype: photographic printing in Prussian blue. Buxton: self-published, 2016, p. 246. http://www.mikeware.co.uk/mikeware/downloads.html
13. R. W. K. G., p. 778.
14. Duchochois, P. C. Photographic Reproduction Processes. New York: The Scovill & Adams Company, 1891, p. 33.
15. Blacklow, Laura. New Dimensions in Photo Processes, 3rd ed. Boston: Focal Press, 2000, p. 102.
16. Barnier, p. 42.
17. Information on splotching and white spots comes from a lengthy email conversation August/September 2018 with Dr. Ware.
18. Ibid.
19. R. W. K. G., p. 778.
20. Whitaker, p. 359.
21. Ware, pp. 181–182.
22. Duchochois, p. 35.
23. Kosar, Jaromir. Light Sensitive Systems: Chemistry and Application of Nonsilver Halide Photographic Processes. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1965, p. 36.
24. Worthington, pp. 130–131.