Cyanotypes

For this assignment, I tried something I had never done before, and it was definitely a challenge, but it was also super cool and super fun! This kind of art is called “Cyanotype” It uses chemicals to create a blue-colored print of a photograph. I had to watch some YouTube videos on how to do this kind of art but essentially what I learned and what I did was I mixed 2 chemicals, ferric ammonium oxalate, and potassium ferricyanide, and used a paintbrush to paint it on some thick and sturdy paper. I did this in the dark to not expose the chemicals to light and then I kept those in the dark while I took the images and printed them onto transparency paper. The images I used I had to use Photoshop to invert them and convert them into black and white before I printed them onto transparency paper. Once I had my photos printed on transparency paper and the chemicals on the paper I was going to print on, I used a UV light box to print the photos into the paper. I chose to do this project because I had seen it online and also because Mr. A was doing it in his college class and he said that it was super fun and I wanted to explore a type of art that I hadn't before. Overall I think that this project was really successful for me but I also definitely hit some rough patches I first realized after the first Cyanotype print that I tried to make didn't work that it did not work to use watercolor paper when another print didn't work as well I realized that if a photo is far too light it doesn't bring as well either. I had a lot of success in the prints I made though I explored whether I liked a clear clean border on my prints or a painted look or splattered look, I think personally I lean towards he look of painted look than a clean forder. I think that my favorite prints that I made are either the one of my family and me which I like because I like how there are different tones of blue between the people and the mountains in the back and the one of me and my boyfriend in the mirror because I like the way I used the cyanotype to not just be an exact print of the photo but have some splotches because I like that kind of style. So, overall this was such a fun project and I definitely made some mistakes but I learned valuable lessons and I loved to learn a new kind of art and I am sure I will do more canotypes in the future!