Re: Troubleshooting cyanotypes

I know with mine, I expose until the darkest areas reverse and turn a
light grey color (using sunlight, either direct or indirect, depending
on the day). In my experience, I've found that if a print looks good
before you wash, it is far underexposed. Before washing, mine look
almost totally dark, with only the brightest highlights having any
yellow or green still. These areas will turn paper white in the wash,
but the other, darker colors will do well once they are hit by the
water. The paper I use is Strathmore Bristol - Plate or Smooth finish -
with a 4x5 or 8x10 negative - I've never used a computer generated
negative so I can't help you there. I double coat my paper (unsized),
the second coat going on after the first is dry and I use the
traditional formula 1:1 (which I'd have to look up). In the wash, I lay
the print face down in a tray of water rather than washing across the
surface, and then rock the tray just like developing a print in the
darkroom. I've found that I get a lot more image loss with direct water
washing than with my soaking method. Although we do thing differently, I
hope that you might be able to find something useful in my process...

- Randy

Jordan Wosnick wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> This weekend I made my first cyanotypes. I used the formula attributed
> to Patricia Dreher (http://www.bostick-sullivan.com/c_cyano.htm --
> scroll down to "other variations") The first few that I made came out
> beautifully -- one photogram and one from an inkjet negative on
> Pictorico OHP.
>
> After that, though, I starting having problems. The exposed cyanotype,
> before development, looked great -- nice contrast, etc. But on
> clearing, almost all of the image density bled away into the wash
> water, leaving practically nothing.
>
> Does anyone know the possible causes of this or potential remedies?
> The only thing I noticed was that the exposures made in direct sun
> fared better (even though I compensated with much longer exposure
> times when I printed in indirect sun or under a compact spiral
> blacklight).
>
> The paper used was Fabriano Artistico (mixed results) and Arches
> Platine (uniformly bad). I coated with about 2 ml of freshly-mixed
> sensitizer per 8x10" sheet and allowed the coated paper to air-dry in
> the dark for 30-60 mins before printing.
>
> Thanks for your advice
>
> Jordan
>
Received on 07/17/06-10:24:12 AM Z