A couple weeks ago, Buddy showed up at my house with two bottles of photo chemicals and an old, white, thrift store sheet and said, "let's make some cyanoprints", and I said, "ok." We did approximately 8 minutes worth of internet research to try and figure out the concentrations of each chemical that was needed as well as the ratio of the two mixtures and came up with something that worked, but not amazingly. However, it proved to be a great starting point and after a couple more trials, Buddy shared with me the ideal numbers to make successful cyanoprints.
Wait, what the hell are cyanoprints? Ok, look at this. Or, look at that picture - those are early examples of ones we did... on the left is a print of a scarf I had knit and on the right is a bunch of holly. Below, I (try to) describe why these didn't come out great - the contrast is low because we didn't expose them for long enough, and with the holly, because it was raised too far off of the sheet and lots of UV light got underneath.In a nutshell, you mix some ferric ammonium citrate with potassium ferricyanide with some water, in the dark, soak some sheets (or water color paper) in the solution (still in the dark), and then try to find the most efficient way to put something you want to create a silhouette on top of the sheet or paper, rush it out into the sunlight and let it sit for a few minutes. The UV light reacts with the chemical solution that the sheet or paper has been soaked in and wherever the UV rays hit the sheet or paper, it turns blue. So, whatever you place on top will remain white - or some shade between blue and white should there be small amounts of UV light getting through.
So, you should try this. I haven't ventured out to purchase the chemicals, but rumor has it they're cheap on the internet. And, a little bit goes a long way - you need a tablespoon-ish of each one in order to make about 20 prints - depending on the size you prefer. Ok, so, get the chemicals, make the solution (see below), cut up some sheets into random, manageable sizes, soak them thoroughly, let them dry for a few hours - IN THE DARK - we set up some old screens on paint cans in a windowless basement room, and then try your best to set things up on them while still in the dark and rush them into the light. Watch the magic.
DETAILS
Substances:
A = Ferric Ammonium Citrate
B = Potassium Ferricyanide
A = Ferric Ammonium Citrate
B = Potassium Ferricyanide
Ideal Ratio:
[X amount of water + 20g of A] + [X amount of water + 8g of B]
X Amounts:
Most experiments were conducted with variance in X... a problem of measuring in the dark, not being very good scientists, not properly determining grams of water, etc. However, we finally did some "science" around the mysterious X and used amounts ranging from 15 mL to 200 mL. Note: X is kept the same for both solutions - you just put 20g of ferric ammonium citrate in one container, and 8g of potassium ferricyanide in the other.
When X was 200 mL = pale prints
When X was 100 mL = less pale, but still too-pale, prints
*When X was 50 mL = gorgeously blue prints of perfection
*When X was 15 mL = veeeeeeeery blue prints which looked pretty rad
*done without drying the sheet first, so, as they say, not all else was equal, but I think it would work anyway
Prepping:
The first thing you want to do is cut up the white sheet you got at the thrift store. Make it different sizes. Then, find some things to put on it... plants work great. I tried knitting needles, shapes cut out of paper - fyi, some UV light gets through the paper so the contrast ends up being low - clothespins, a knitted scarf, and lots of leaves of various types. Some came out better than others. You'll just have to experiment to see what you end up liking the best. I think we found that the more stuff you put on each piece of sheet, the more interesting it ends up looking. We also found it really interesting to print out some of our photos on transparencies (we would invert them first in a photo editor), and place the transparencies over the sheets. Here's what some of those looked like:
the transparencies are on the bottom, the resulting prints on the top
Some may question the seriousness of our methods, but they basically involved getting the dried sheets out of the very dark room in the basement, setting them down in a sorta-but-not-really-super-dark part of the basement, on a
long board, putting stuff on them and then placing some glass over the top to keep things from blowing away. We tried to do this pretty quickly since we knew the sheets were being partially exposed. Then, we rushed them out into the sunlight and let them sit for between 5 and 45 minutes. That's me taking a picture of them in my yard, mid-exposure.
5 minutes is too short. 45 minutes is too long. Somewhere in between. Try it in 5 minute increments because it depends on the type of sunlight you're getting. We found the reactions slowed down/stopped, and the results didn't get any darker, after 25-30 minutes in direct, bright, afternoon sun.
Finishing:
When you've found the optimal time and the sheets are done, its important to wash them, for a couple minutes, in cold, running water. The water serves as a stop bath and stops the reaction between the chemicals and the UV light. Some sources say that rinsing them with perioxide helps to more quickly oxidize the solution and stop the reaction, but we didn't notice a difference.
Hang them up all over your house so your housemates come home and are like, "wtf?"
Hem them, sew them together, frame 'em and give them for presents. Your relatives will be amazed.
[X amount of water + 20g of A] + [X amount of water + 8g of B]
X Amounts:
Most experiments were conducted with variance in X... a problem of measuring in the dark, not being very good scientists, not properly determining grams of water, etc. However, we finally did some "science" around the mysterious X and used amounts ranging from 15 mL to 200 mL. Note: X is kept the same for both solutions - you just put 20g of ferric ammonium citrate in one container, and 8g of potassium ferricyanide in the other.
When X was 200 mL = pale prints
When X was 100 mL = less pale, but still too-pale, prints
*When X was 50 mL = gorgeously blue prints of perfection
*When X was 15 mL = veeeeeeeery blue prints which looked pretty rad
*done without drying the sheet first, so, as they say, not all else was equal, but I think it would work anyway
Actual Ratios We Used:
The A:B ratio kept creeping toward 2:1, but was always between 2:1 and 3:1. Basically 20g:8g. But, the internet gives you lots of other options, so check it out. Ps. It's hard to measure in the dark.
The A:B ratio kept creeping toward 2:1, but was always between 2:1 and 3:1. Basically 20g:8g. But, the internet gives you lots of other options, so check it out. Ps. It's hard to measure in the dark.
Prepping:
The first thing you want to do is cut up the white sheet you got at the thrift store. Make it different sizes. Then, find some things to put on it... plants work great. I tried knitting needles, shapes cut out of paper - fyi, some UV light gets through the paper so the contrast ends up being low - clothespins, a knitted scarf, and lots of leaves of various types. Some came out better than others. You'll just have to experiment to see what you end up liking the best. I think we found that the more stuff you put on each piece of sheet, the more interesting it ends up looking. We also found it really interesting to print out some of our photos on transparencies (we would invert them first in a photo editor), and place the transparencies over the sheets. Here's what some of those looked like:
the transparencies are on the bottom, the resulting prints on the topSome may question the seriousness of our methods, but they basically involved getting the dried sheets out of the very dark room in the basement, setting them down in a sorta-but-not-really-super-dark part of the basement, on a
long board, putting stuff on them and then placing some glass over the top to keep things from blowing away. We tried to do this pretty quickly since we knew the sheets were being partially exposed. Then, we rushed them out into the sunlight and let them sit for between 5 and 45 minutes. That's me taking a picture of them in my yard, mid-exposure.5 minutes is too short. 45 minutes is too long. Somewhere in between. Try it in 5 minute increments because it depends on the type of sunlight you're getting. We found the reactions slowed down/stopped, and the results didn't get any darker, after 25-30 minutes in direct, bright, afternoon sun.
Finishing:
When you've found the optimal time and the sheets are done, its important to wash them, for a couple minutes, in cold, running water. The water serves as a stop bath and stops the reaction between the chemicals and the UV light. Some sources say that rinsing them with perioxide helps to more quickly oxidize the solution and stop the reaction, but we didn't notice a difference.
Hang them up all over your house so your housemates come home and are like, "wtf?"
Hem them, sew them together, frame 'em and give them for presents. Your relatives will be amazed.
Google it, research it, the internet is littered with info about this type of thing and you can buy (for pretty cheap) the chemicals online too. Feel free to ask me any questions though I have limited experience. As a side note, all of my best prints I have given away to my aunts for their birthdays, so I don't have pictures of them - they ended up coming out a lot better and with higher contrast than those pictured here. Good luck!!
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