Sam Wang (stwang@clemson.edu)
Thu, 22 Jul 1999 08:39:55 -0400
Siouxsan,
If it will make you feel any better, I am a twenty-five or more years
user of cyabotype, and I have been having similar difficulties
printing cyanotype in South Carolina - the wall has a big hole where
I bang my head!
One of my problems is that I prefer double coating to get maximum
density. Not many papers will tolerate that, in more ways than one.
One coat, no sweat. Coat it again, all heck breaks loose. I have
wasted days and not getting a good enough print from my 12x20
negatives. (That never happens with any other process, including
platinum, vandyke, or even carbon.)
Papers change, a lot. Stonehenge at one time gave me great results.
Recent batches had either too little sizing or gave uneven, almost
grainy, results.
Without going on and on about my blues, I just wanted to bring up the
fact that Barbara Hewitt of http://www.blueprintables.com has
debunked in her book some myths about cyanotype, such as not to
combine A and B solutions till just before you coat. Another one is
that coated paper (fabrics) don't keep - they have successfully used
materials coated 2 years ago with little staining. Some of these
myths originated from trying to avoid problems caused by bad
chemicals, I believe: with "good" chemicals, A and B can be mixed and
not turn blue. Similarly, with the "right" paper, coatings can be
saved for a long time before exposure. BTW, Blueprintables sell the
chemicals at the best prices anywhere, about $12 per lb each. They
also sell precoated fabrics by the yard, in addition to precoated
paper. Barbara's demo at the Tuscon SPE conference was a real
inspiration. Their phone number: 1-800-356-0445
Hope this at least made you feel you are not alone in this.
Sam Wang
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