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Thursday 24 November 2011

Cyanotype shinanigins



Hello there all blog friends. I am divulging some cyanotype shinanigins I took part in a couple of years back. I remembered these after the lovely Geninne on her art blog posted some similar images. I was inspired by a lady I read about who was holding an 'Open house' art event. I went to see her work, it was beautiful. So.....I just had to have a go!  The whole process was quite tricky, from finding the chemicals etc, the right paper, glass to sandwich the foliage I wanted to use, and last but not least some UV light in the form of British sunshine, Ha Ha.
I found a brilliant book on the subject,(see above) gathered all the necessary bits, the only real problem (apart from the chemicals being slightly dangerous, cyanide I think??BIG rubber gloves necessary) was not having a darkroom or similar. I ended up in the garage, one dark night, (husband shouting, what are you doing in there, ??) painting the chemical onto watercolour paper, then trying to let it dry before placing in a black bag in another box and then in a draw. The chemical becomes light sensitive once it's painted on,(I like the brush strokes) so it meant waiting till the next day and hoping for sunshine. I wanted to do mainly Christmassy leaves etc, hence the holly you can see. I ended up with allsorts of floral bits in the end.(can you see the honeysuckle?)






It was a big learning curve to be honest. I now know of a place I could do this, with a darkroom and a UV light, I should/ MUST have another go. My only trouble is I'm not flipping fantastic photoshop wise, or I could do something with the images. Still I do like them, I could maybe try painting over like Geninne has, Hmmmn.....perhaps I'll get round to it one day? I do have some mad moments trying out different things, it all makes for good fun!! Hope you like the blues? I find them quite soulfull :)))

7 comments:

  1. These are gorgeous! They are so lovely as they are, they would look ovely framed, the 4th one down is beautiful! I think you should try and do some more, well done! and thank you for your lovely comments on my blog! :) lisax

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  2. Ooh thanks Lisa, the husband is not a fan, I do like them. I was meaning WYPW for the darkroom etc, I should look into it, these were a bit of an experiment. But thanks anyway. Good luck with things! :)X

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  3. I too think they would look great all framed up and hung together...
    I vaguely remember having something as a kid that made "shadow prints"....but they came out on a piece of rubber or something, and faded away over time,so you could use it again.
    Fascinating how many art forms there are out there, just screaming to be tried! :))))))

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  4. I love these. Thank you so much for the comment on my last blog post. You must visit Barter books. Could you send me the literature on the Laura Ashley Tea room list....It sounded great.

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  5. Thanks Melody, I often get carried away trying out new arty ideas! :)
    Anna, I'm not sure how to send you the info, but I've just checked their website (Laura Ashley)and if you go to the part that says New Blog, and scroll down the past blogs, you will find the Newcastle tearooms, I think it's by Katie ? and shows an egg in the picture?? Give it a try and if no luck I will try and send the email? Cheers!

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  6. These are beautiful Julie. But cyanide? Really? That's quite a process.

    I could imagine these as prints on fabric.

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  7. Julie! these are so beautiful!
    i think they would look wonderful as wall artwork!
    xo sandra

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