First Cyanotype

David Mitchell

David Mitchell

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

Just created some Cyanotype solution and have washed some 1/4 A4 watercolour paper sheets with it, I coated another just to see if I had the solution correct and have just done a really basic photogram using my UV tanning lamp - its very underexposed and typically I used something shiny so its reflected but its gone dark blue which is awesome lol.

Here is my proof of concept first development (it develops in water, I added some bleach to help).



I have created lots of those basically post card sized pieces of paper as they fit in some small frames which will be perfect for contact printing with digital negatives.

Anyhow, im happy with the result so far :D

It has cost me around £25 in chemicals and I have used around 10% of one of them per batch and each batch will make around 50 8x10 prints lol so thats a huge amount of prints I can now make. I have now mixxed the chemicals and I know that they don't store amazingly well so I might go and brush some more now.
 
Thanks Kev, I wanted to get into something analogue but don't really have space for an enlarger or indeed the expensive paper needed. I also like the fact that it develops in water (with a little bleach) again something easy to sort out, and the fact that its only sensitive to UV so you can work with it under normal lights.

I have just got a Phillips fan tanner for the UV source as I might want to do some development when I get home from work in the evening, when the sun isn't usually around lol.

Just trying to fire up an old printer to see if I can get some prints done tonight.
 
Hmm the spare transparency paper doesn't seem to like my inkjet, I will have to go out and buy some inkjet specific transparency paper. I have tried something though with another sheet, I have printed it out on paper and then oiled it, I know that people do make waxxed paper which works ok with cyanotypes but not as good as a transparency.

Just put the print out on the balcony to see if it will gather much UV from what little sun that is left, I will just put it under the UV bulb if not.

My 'printing frame' is actually a photo frame from poundland, its a box frame with 2 pieces of glass which sandwich half way in the middle, keeps it all secure without needing clips lol
 
Here is the Poundland 'contact frame'



And here is my first proper print, this is using simply oiled paper with the negative printed out on normal paper :D the lines in the background are due to the printer needing a clean lol but at least it works with oiled paper :D

 
Yeah the frame is basically 2 bits of glass - its cheap (well a whole pound lol) so its not UV glass, I do like the fact that the I can just oil the paper and use it as a negative, much cheaper lol.
 
Pete Askew said:
Excellent stuff David. This looks very promising. You can also counter-stain with tea or coffee!
Click to expand...

Thanks Pete, I printed a set of 4 on paper so I will try out the rest of the ones I picked for printing tomorrow, I think the prepared piece I used above was one of the first ones as you can see that its not got perfect coverage, but then again I don't want it to be perfect.

What I am quite impressed with is the level of detail there is with the different shades, although shades of blue its pretty cool, and its on slightly rougher cold press basic watercolour paper.

I think I have around 30ish prepared ready for printing, I might look at coating a few A4 sizes as well at some point, I don't have an A4 piece of glass though which is why I kept them small.

I have seen some 2 colour cyanotypes where you develop on layer and tan another to get an interesting combo, what I might also look at doing is hilighting certain prints in pen for example if I printed a flower, outline the stem etc.

I am just happy that I can now print my work cheaply and to fairly large sizes no matter what negative size I use, I don't have space for an enlarger so this compact setup is perfect.

I will probably also get myself some inkjet transparencies but they aren't that cheap so I will carry on with oiled paper, it doesn't matter as much as I have quite a rough finish to the paper.

If anyone is wishing to have a print done just let me know, i'm happy to make a contact print for anyone on the forum, would just need a digital file :)
 
Here are the prints I have done so far, top line is good, middle line is ok, buttom image is okish, bit dark but im learning



Matlock - oil marks on here I think



Bridge



Barge - really impressed with this one, very very sharp even on watercolour paper

 
Thanks Pete, its getting there, I might try some larger prints tomorrow ie half A4 size, I do like the smaller 1/4 A4 size prints though as the actual image size is probably comparible to a 5x4 but its got a nice border around it. I will get some transparencies at some point but oiled paper seems to be working quite well so far!

Its kinda like a polariod cyanotype, except they develop quicker lol :D

I still have loads of solution left, still have another 125ml bottle full plus probably another 50ml in another, ive coated loads already, perhaps tomorrow is paper coating day lol not sure how long it lasts before going off (I know the solution grows mould after a while).
 
Ok, so I have now got myself some inkjet transparencies and have created some digital negatives, I knew that the exposure time would be different but its like night and day!

Oiled paper = around 10 minutes
Transparencies = around 1 minute

Yes thats right, 1 minute per print, I tried a print at 10 minutes and 5 minutes and both were overexposed massivly, I have put the timer on basically the minimum that the face tanner can go on and its pretty much spot on, I will take a photo of one of the prints, its amazinly sharp, high contrast, really nice colour and no mess or contamination on the print.

The inkjet transparencies aren't that cheap, but printing 4 on an A4 sheet its not too bad, I think it works out at something like 25p a sheet but these negatives will last and they really are amazing to look at - this would still be cheaper than a large format negative so I am happy

I might get myself one of those exposure timers that cuts the power off making it slightly easier to get the exposure right, I might also create a colour chart with a gray scale and then expose it at different times to see at which point the best contrast is attained.

I am amazed at the sharpness of the print though, its even on rough watercolour paper but you can tell its sharp.
 
Right, here is the comparison between a basic oiled paper print and a more expensive inkjet transparency:

Oiled on the left, transparency on the right, exposure time for paper was around 10 minutes, transparency was around 1 minute:



Oiled paper printed ok, but you can see some loss of sharpness in some parts due to the oil not evenly soaking in and some contamination (spots) at the top. What is also obvious is the lack of detail in the sky, the negative image would have had this quite dark and this might have basically blocked all of the UV out as there is also the layer of paper.



This is the transparency, it is sharp across the image and you can see definition such as the thin lamp posts and sharp edges on the bridge structure, you will also notice the sky is actually there this time - this is the same image just printed on an inkjet transparency and printed using a very cheap old printer! The print is slightly over exposed, this would be due to the much much shorter exposure time due to it not having a paper layer to have to go through, its quite a bit more expsensive to print like this with the transparency being the main cost of the whole print, but at least the negative can be used over and over again without issue.

 
Amazing stuff - need to re-read to get my head around what you're doing though! :D
 
Chris Dodkin said:
Amazing stuff - need to re-read to get my head around what you're doing though! :D
Click to expand...

Basically I paint on some magic chemical, shine a UV light on it with a picture inbetween, dunk it in water and get a print :)
 
David Mitchell said:
Basically I paint on some magic chemical, shine a UV light on it with a picture inbetween, dunk it in water and get a print :)
Click to expand...

Ahhhhhh - that's better, I get it now! :D :D :D
 
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