The cyanotype starts with mixing up chemical solutions that will be combined together and coated on a piece of paper.

Solution A consists of 50 grams of ferric ammonium citrate dissolved in 8 ounces of distilled water. Solution B is 35 grams of potassium ferracyanide dissolved in 8 ounces of distilled water. These solutions are placed, separately, in brown glass bottles and stoppered.

In the darkroom, under OC safelights, I then mixed 2 ounces of Solution A with 2 ounces of Solution B in a stainless steel film tank. I cut up some sheets of Strathmore 400 drawing paper in varying sizes. I placed a sheet of the paper in a plastic tray and "painted" it with the A+B solution using a bristle-type paint brush. The sheets were then hung to dry, using wooden clothespins to keep them from curling.

I air-dried some batches of the paper and used a hair dryer on a low heat setting on some. I noticed no difference in the paper between the two drying methods.

For the the first exposure (pg1.jpg) I placed a piece of glass over the sensitized paper and placed a few drafting tools on the glass. I exposed this to the sun for 12 minutes or so, after which I washed it running water. It was air dried on a paper towel.

For the second image (pg2.jpg) I wanted to see how a piece of aluminum screening would be rendered and scattered a few paper trimmings over it for good measure. Exposure time was about 8 minutes.

Image three (pg3.jpg) was made by placing one of my engineering drawings, done in ink on mylar, over the paper and weighting it with a piece of glass. To "point" the paper at the sun, I used a C-clamp to hold the glass down to a piece a plywood on which I had placed the paper and the drawing. This allowed me to keep the paper perpendicular to the sun. Exposure time was about 8 minutes.

Years ago I spent quite a bit of time doing posterizations. In this process a continuous tone image is separated into discrete tonal images which are then recombined in various ways into a new image. I have made silver prints, color prints, and silk screens using this process. I was interested in seeing how some of these images would look when printed as a cyanotype. I dug my original posterized image masters out of their files. These were negative and positive image sets printed on Kodalith film. (I'll spare you from the details of that process but would be glad to share with anyone interested.)

In the first one (cwt1.jpg) this was a straight contact print from 2-1/4 inch originals, a negative and a positive sandwiched together. The image is of a set of counterweights for a tank truck loading arm.

The second image (njp2.jpg) is from a pair of 8 X 10 inch masters, again, one positive and one negative. The image was taken in a colonial prison in New Jersey. In this one I used three master pairs and gave each one a separate exposure on the same piece of sensitized paper. I had to register the film on my plywood easel, hinging everything with masking tape. The first and second exposures were for 12 minutes, but during the third exposure I ran into a problem when the sun disappeared behind clouds, never to return. I finished the exposure by placing the image under a set of fluorescent lights. I discovered an interesting variation of this image after I scanned it and switched it to negative from it's original positive. I've included that version as well (njp2n.jpg).

After exposure, all prints were washed in a dishpan of running water for several minutes until the unexposed areas were washed clean. Excess water was removed by blotting with a sponge after which the prints were air dried.