Cyanotypes

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I follow Northern Mudlarks on Instagram as well as YouTube and I love the things they find and what they make from these finds. They recently did Cyanotypes of some of the things they found and I fell in love with them. I have never made anything like this except some cheaper form of this in school called solar paper. Maybe it was a cheaper 1970s version of this. My daughter reminded me of this because she did this too in art class. I wanted to try something more upscale. I have plenty of things I could try to use as the objects to lay the paper on from glass to plants. I have watched some videos to get more confident that what I am going to try will work.

I bought some paper on Amazon and I think this is what I bought.

Amazon.com: Sun Print Paper- Cyanotype Paper for Kids, 24 Sheets Nature Sunprint Paper, Highly Sensitive to Sun, A4 Size in 6 Different Colors, Sun Print Art Paper Kit

It was as easy as placing objects on the paper (which I placed on a clipboard) then sit it in the sun with the acrylic sheet over it until it turned white, rise in cool water until the water is clear ( about a minute) then lay flat to dry. Once it was dry, I did place the paper under books on a wool mat I have for ironing to make it flat.

I plan to do this with my grandkids this summer. I love the modern blueprint type of look to this art. I will trim some print down to fit frames and potentially cut in half to put them in 5×7 frames too so the layout needs to be thought about depending on if you are going to use a vertical 8×10 frame or trim it in half and you may need a horizontal placement of the paper for layout.

Simple, fun, and almost instant gratification art. Fantastic for adults and kids alike

Vicki

My results :

I learned a lot from these three and plan to do more and get better!