Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 57

 

There were a few gorgeous, warm days in the beginning of November that just called out for some printmaking to finish up the season. Luckily, I had plenty of dried and pressed leaves set aside for just such a moment, and I was able to make three large panels on cotton sateen.

I had chanced across some red mulberry leaves earlier in the fall, and was very excited about them. I've worked with the non-native white mulberry many times before, but these very large, native species leaves were new to me. For the first two prints, I used just the red mulberry leaves, and for the third I combined one with some sumac leaves and white mulberry twigs. Look at that size difference! When things like this excite you, you will never be bored,

I used a combination of cyanotype chemicals and Jacquard's Solarfast sun-activated dyes. They are not really meant to be used together, nor to be used in long exposures, but with experimentation I've worked out a process that gives me results I like. Here are the prints after exposure, but before rinsing them out.

This third image is a bit funky; the weather turned quickly at the end of the second day of printmaking and I brought this one in before a deluge of rain and took a quick picture of it inside.

Here are the finished prints. All three are about 2 ft. x 4 ft. I am delighted with them.

I have plans for them; they are joining a very long queue of projects. 

This has obviously been a very weird and scary year to date, and I am somewhat disorganized and scattered, but at least I have some great prints to point to and think about. 

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 56

Still catching up on documenting the summer's prints sessions. This was the last batch of wet cyanotype prints on mineral paper, made in the last warm and mellow days of September.

The first two are fern fronds from my garden.

Followed by a maple twig, and a bit of the horribly invasive but good for printmaking Japanese knotweed.

Here are the prints after exposure, but before rinsing and finishing.

Once again, I am delighted by the way the chemicals move around on the slick surface of the mineral paper before settling down and permanently staining it. 

Those rusty tones are spectacular but will rinse out, so I'm glad I always take a moment to record them at this stage.

Here are the finished prints.

So much swirly goodness!

And nice crisp leaf outlines on the knotweed print. November has turned a bit dreary, as per usual, and it's good to have some summery goodness to reflect back on.

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 55

Reporting in with another batch of wet cyanotype prints on mineral paper, made at the tail end of a warm and sunny September.

This batch is 4 different arrangements of wild fox grape leaves, damaged by the usual ravages of weather and insects.

Once again, I marveled at how the cyanotype chemicals swirled around on the paper at the beginning of the exposure. The bulk of my wet cyan work has been done on fabric, which absorbs the chemicals and behaves very differently.

Here's the prints after exposure, but before rinsing.

I put these out on a hot afternoon, then got distracted. It was a full 24 hours before I had a chance to remove the leaves and bring the prints indoors.

I got a lot a really interesting colors and designs in that time period; however, that was counterbalanced by the way the leaves got dried and stuck onto the paper in places.

I had to spend some time soaking and very, very gently scrubbing to remove the leaf fragments. 

So while I would not recommend this degree of over-exposure, the results are very unique and beautiful! Here are the finished prints.

There is so much variation in tone and intensity in these.

I think they capture that end-of-summer, brink-of-decay moment really well.

This one shows a lot of the leaf veining as well. 

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 54

First I want to take a moment to note that this is my 700th blog post! I began back in January 2008, and have been at it consistently ever since. I set several informal rules for my postings back then that I have observed ever since. My focus is on my artwork and the inspiration for the artwork, which includes gardening, hiking, and travel; my personal life is incidental. And rather than posting on a schedule, I post when I have something to report and something to say, with the intention that each post adds value and is worth my time and yours. 

I know that blogging has fallen in and out of popularity several times over the past 13 years, but I am carrying on regardless and hope to continue indefinitely. Many, many thanks to all of you who have supported and encouraged me over time, it means the world to me.

It seems fitting that today's post features wet cyanotype work, as that has been a huge part of my artmaking life for the past several years. Here we have two prints on cotton sateen, about 4ft. by 2ft., using cyanotype and Solarfast chemicals. I made them during September's warm and sunny spell. The first is Japanese anemone and maple leaves, and the second is black walnut.

Here they are after a long exposure but before rinsing.

Here are the finished prints. I am very happy with how crisp and detailed they are. I am adding them to the wealth of prints that are stacked up and awaiting stitching. It's looking like we will be going back into lockdown during the fall and winter, so I am grateful I will have something to occupy myself. 

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 53

Here is another sunny September batch of wet cyanotype prints on mineral paper. Again, I used leaves from my gardens and yard. Above are two calla leaves; I planted an unlabeled assortment of bulbs this spring, and I believe these are two different varieties, hence the slightly different profiles. I also planted a lot of ferns, and while they were all labeled and I kept track of what went where, for printing purposes I didn't check my notes, just clipped a good looking one. 

I have an elm growing at the fence line, and snagged a twig of that as well. I love the leaf edges.

Here are the prints after about 5 hours exposure, but before rinsing.

I got a lot of nice, fine leaf definition with this batch.

The rusty color on these is pretty fabulous, but it does rinse out. 

Here are the finished prints. 

I got some purple tones in some of these.

On the whole, I think this batch has a very aqueous look to them, like they were caught in a storm or a moving stream of water.

This elm print is so simplistic yet so very striking. 

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