Merry Christmas/Happy Birthday/Cyanotypes Rule

Not too long ago, someone asked me what I got for Christmas. When I rattled off hammers to texturize metal, an R2D2 measuring spoon set, and cyanotype chemicals I got the quizzical, confused, cocked puppy head look back. No really - that made me quite happy I assured them!

Flash forward a month, my photography buddy Tad Barney came to my studio for a visit and some playtime. He was very kind to come hold my hand.  It's been about a decade since I played with creating cyanotypes and I was a bit nervous.

I lugged my printer, laptop, and Pictorico Inkjet Transparencies to the studio, but Tad gets the award for strangest contraption. He brought his homemade UV light source. It was a wonder to behold!

Tad's magic blacklight box

We painted the emulsion on all kinds of different papers, including book pages, watercolor paper, pastel paper, and even some antique paper I bought as a bundle but had never figured out how to use. The antique paper (shown below) has a wonderful circular mark on some of the pages that Tad put to good use to accentuate the composition of one of his images.

Tad showed me how he has been staining his cyanotypes with instant coffee.

 

I was particularly enchanted with Tad's dreamy image of his daughter Lily on the book page.

My main goal for the day was to see if cyanotypes would work with a super thin unryu combined with my encaustic work. While I don't have the exposure dialed in yet, this was definitely a successful proof of concept.

All Hail King Tad!