Anam Cara ([info]anam_cara_) wrote in [info]craftgrrl,
@ 2007-09-24 17:36:00
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Sunprints!
At long last- I've been wanting to do this forever! Does anyone else remember playing with sunprint paper as a kid? Instead of ordering the pre-made paper I went ahead and ordered the chemicals myself and spent Saturday coating paper and fabric. I've got enough to make an awful lot, so these are all just for practice.

It's extremely difficult to capture the true blue color with my camera, neither of these pictures are quite right, so I'm going to try scanning them in directly later.




This one is actually a very, very dark midnight blue. It's one of my favorites.

But these two look like light denim... I was running out of sunlight as the sunset, so they didn't develop very much.


The stupid bristles of the new brush I was using shed worse than my cats! Luckily not all of the pages were ruined like this one.


I also made some negative transparencies, I haven't taken photos of those yet though. I've had great fun finding all kinds of leaves and grasses and flowers to press, so many ideas in my head! Expect more posts!



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[info]rooftopscandal
2007-09-24 10:52 pm UTC (link)
These are so cool!
Where did you order the chemicals?

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[info]anam_cara_
2007-09-25 02:17 am UTC (link)
If you Google cyanotype chemicals, quite a few places will pop up... I used http://www.bostick-sullivan.com/

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[info]lizreay
2007-09-24 10:53 pm UTC (link)
I am completely unfamiliar with this stuff, but it came out gorgeous!

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[info]anam_cara_
2007-09-25 02:17 am UTC (link)
Thanks! It's a lot of fun.

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[info]malicious_pengy
2007-09-24 11:03 pm UTC (link)
Beautiful! What are you going to use the prints for?

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[info]anam_cara_
2007-09-25 02:20 am UTC (link)
I'm going to frame a few. I think I'm going to make a triptych of herbs for my kitchen (rosemary, thyme, basil or sage). I thought I'd make a few cards. I thought about putting them on my Etsy site, but it appears that cyanotypes don't sell very well there.

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[info]havfaith
2007-09-24 11:03 pm UTC (link)
Ooh, brings back memories from elementary school. =)

Are you taking the pics indoor with a flash? That's probably a lot of the issue with the color coming out a little off. Try it outside or near a window with sunlight (not direct/bright) coming in. If you have any tpe of photo software, you should be able to tweak it a bit that way too.

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[info]anam_cara_
2007-09-25 02:21 am UTC (link)
I tried to tweak it quickly before uploading them, but yeah, I need to photograph them in natural light!

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[info]arian_diana
2007-09-24 11:10 pm UTC (link)
I only did this one time as a kid, and I loved it! I really like how yours turned out!

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[info]anam_cara_
2007-09-25 02:21 am UTC (link)
Thanks! The next batch will be even better!

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[info]anam_cara_
2007-09-25 02:33 am UTC (link)
Oh, and your icon with the blue butterflies reminds me of a plan I have in my head... I've printed out some transparencies with poems and quotes to add to the pressed flowers and such... one is about a 'blue butterfly day', I thought I'd add butterflies (expired from our local butterfly pavilion, I won't harm any!). So many ideas, so little playtime!

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[info]arian_diana
2007-09-25 09:16 pm UTC (link)
Definitely post the butterfly one! I love butterflies!

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[info]ifyouputiton
2007-09-25 12:19 am UTC (link)
looks like cyanotype to me! you can play around with the tones by painting on a dilution of bleach, too. and if you have access to the chemicals, it also works well on cotton sheets.

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[info]anam_cara_
2007-09-25 02:24 am UTC (link)
It may be awhile before I advance on to toning, but I did coat a few pieces of fabric Saturday as well, I just haven't exposed them yet. Someone once posted pillows here.

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[info]law_of_sines
2007-09-25 01:41 am UTC (link)
I love cyanotypes! If you're interested, it's really easy to print photographs this way.

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[info]anam_cara_
2007-09-25 02:26 am UTC (link)
Yes! I ran a few that day, but haven't photographed them yet. The one I thought would look the best, really wasn't the best photo to select, but another one turned out really well.

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[info]medias_res
2007-09-25 04:36 am UTC (link)
So cool! I had those papers as a kid, but I didn't realize you could buy the materials separately, or that they could be used on fabric. Oooh!

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[info]quirkz88
2007-09-25 12:31 pm UTC (link)
ok, those are amazing. I have never heard of this technique, how do you do them?

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[info]anam_cara_
2007-09-25 01:41 pm UTC (link)
I ordered the chemical kit, added distilled water to each of the chemical bottles, then you mix a solution of both bottles, coat the papers/fabric, let dry. When you are ready to use them, you lay things on top, usually place glass or plexiglass over top (so nothing shifts) and expose to the sun. After exposure you give them a water bath to wash off the coating. That's it! Easy, but a bit time consuming.

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