Chris Calohan II
Member
An interesting chemistry invented (for the most part) by John Hershel somewhere in the neighborhood of 1842 consisting of equal parts of Ferric Ammonium Citrate and Potassium Ferrocyanide. If you've ever seen a blueprint and you have if you've ever built a house, then this is essentially the same process, sans developing in ammonia (though, here we go....I have used some developing or toning formulas which use ammonia, and white vinegar - or even freshly squeezed lemons). In the early days, Cyanotypes were mostly contact prints with botanicals but as it has been with all photographic processes, somebody thought, "hmmm, I wonder what would happen if..."
Well, I started off with the "new" glitzy botanicals using turmeric, paprika, dill weed, cumin, Kosher salt, soap suds, dyes and a host of other "stuff' to get an image, far more resembling a watercolor painting than a cyanotype. It got pretty boring, pretty quickly especially considering the exposure times can range from 2 hours to all day depending on where you live. These were all printed on wet cyanotype solution and spritzed liberally with a 25:75 solution of white vinegar.
This one had it all- turmeric, cumin, paprika, dill weed, soap bubbles with a wrap of saran wrap.
I continued along this path with the same spices all images in this series on Arches Platine, exposed for two hours in a full, Florida Summer sun.
"Cosmos in a Cosmos"
Gold on Blue (Goldenrod)
Modern Family (Zinnias)
Witch Hazel (No spice additives but slathered in soap bubbles)
Last of the Agapanthus (A tiny bit of turmeric a huge dump of dill and a dash or two of Black Himalayan Sea Salt and (for whatever reason) a liberal splash of soap bubbles)
Blackberry Leaves 'au natural' (color is a natural seepage)
Well, I started off with the "new" glitzy botanicals using turmeric, paprika, dill weed, cumin, Kosher salt, soap suds, dyes and a host of other "stuff' to get an image, far more resembling a watercolor painting than a cyanotype. It got pretty boring, pretty quickly especially considering the exposure times can range from 2 hours to all day depending on where you live. These were all printed on wet cyanotype solution and spritzed liberally with a 25:75 solution of white vinegar.
This one had it all- turmeric, cumin, paprika, dill weed, soap bubbles with a wrap of saran wrap.
I continued along this path with the same spices all images in this series on Arches Platine, exposed for two hours in a full, Florida Summer sun.
"Cosmos in a Cosmos"
Gold on Blue (Goldenrod)
Modern Family (Zinnias)
Witch Hazel (No spice additives but slathered in soap bubbles)
Last of the Agapanthus (A tiny bit of turmeric a huge dump of dill and a dash or two of Black Himalayan Sea Salt and (for whatever reason) a liberal splash of soap bubbles)
Blackberry Leaves 'au natural' (color is a natural seepage)
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