Re: Cyanotype help!

Charles Cooper (ccooper@imagi.net)
Sun, 9 Jul 1995 22:34:10 -0600

>Please, if anyone can help me, please answer! This project is due in a
>few days!!!
>
>I am cyanotypeing. Everything works fine up to a point. It drys the
>right color, it exposes right. Then, I wash it (just with cold bathwater),
>and out comes the beautiful blue... but only for a second! Then, IT ALL
>WASHES OFF THE PAGE AND DOWN THE DRAIN!!! There is nothing left but a
>blank white sheet of Reves BFK

I am wondering what you mean by it "exposes right". When my cyanotypes are
exposed right, they are very dark with a grayish tinge and all the areas
that are lightly exposed are washed away. Have you made tests with longer
exposures?

I haven't uses BFK in at least 6 or 8 years. I used BFK with a series I did
ten years ago and I had a lot of inconsistency with it. I switch around and
finally bought a Danial Smith sample pack of paper and tested many to see
what would work with cyanotypes. I have been printing on Stonehenge for
ever since. There were other papers in the packet that also worked well and
the blue color varied just a bit amoung the papers. Personal preference, I
suppose.

Good luck,
Margie Root (even though the heading says Charles Cooper)