Cyanotype is a historic technique of creating prints utilizing the ability of the solar. It’s an excellent enjoyable craft to do on a sunny afternoon, and means that you can create lovely prints courtesy of what’s rising in your backyard. Right here’s how one can make your personal solar print playing cards!
There are lots of methods to gather magnificence from the backyard and protect it, however one in every of my favourites is to create greeting playing cards utilizing a historic photographic technique, cyanotype printing (you’ll be able to learn extra about its historical past on this put up).
I first used this technique to create solar print napkins and was thrilled with the outcomes. I used to be hooked on the probabilities of the attention-grabbing shapes within the backyard that simply wanted to be immortalized.
Utilizing a few of the leftover cyanotype resolution from the undertaking, I made a bunch of solar print playing cards showcasing the assorted leaves in my backyard. Let me present you how one can make your personal!
How one can Make Solar Print Playing cards
Select a sunny day to work in your cyanotype playing cards. It takes lower than a half hour of daylight to make the prints, however in addition they want some drying time so take this under consideration as nicely.
Supplies
Make It
Learn the directions out of your equipment (a few occasions!) to be taught the method. Because you’re working with chemical substances, be certain that the whole lot is prepped and able to go forward of time. Put on gloves and lay out newspaper to guard your work floor.
Combine resolution A and resolution B as described within the directions. Pour the combined resolution into the plastic bucket to make dipping the curler straightforward.
Use a small foam curler to make a tough rectangle on the playing cards. I like the sides uneven and natural-looking, like torn paper.
Select just a few curiously formed flat issues from the backyard, a park, or a forest. Flat leaves with loads of element appear to work finest. These which can be rounded will depart shadows and never give a crisp solar print.
Organize the botanicals on ready playing cards as soon as the answer has dried. Notice: Make sure you enable the answer to dry utterly in the dead of night, as per the bundle directions, as any gentle will start the publicity course of. Place a bit of glass over the playing cards and leaves and set it out in direct daylight for 20 minutes undisturbed.
You can too purchase solar print paper when you don’t wish to cope with making use of the chemical substances. That’s on my checklist to attempt subsequent.
When the publicity time is up, run the print beneath water till it begins to develop.
The directions say to scrub for five minutes, however I discovered this lightened an excessive amount of of the print. I additionally tried floating the entire card in a bath of water and didn’t like these outcomes that have been, once more, too washed out.
There was a warning within the directions that when you don’t wash the chemical substances off nicely sufficient, your print will proceed to be uncovered. I did these playing cards just a few weeks in the past, and they’re nonetheless simply excellent, so I suppose I discovered the proper steadiness. My experimentation led me to really feel happy with the working water system.
You don’t want to scrub them till the unexposed space beneath the leaf is totally white, which can occur because it finishes growing and dries. Got down to dry till damp, then press between sheets of parchment in a cellphone ebook in order that the cardboard flattens out once more.
I did a bunch of several types of natural supplies I discovered within the backyard, however essentially the most profitable have been flat leaves or flowers. I did some poppy seed heads that forged a shadow and made the print look distorted. I’m positive you should have loads to select from, as I did, since nature is ample.
Wash the whole lot rather well when completed. You, your bucket, and any spills needs to be cleaned with a considerable amount of heat water.
Cyanotype Playing cards FAQ
I used cardstock for mine. Printer paper can be too skinny because it must be washed beneath water, however the cardstock was simply the proper thickness and smoothness.
These prints will seemingly fade a bit sooner than different ink prints. Nonetheless, this fading will happen over time. Mine have held their vibrancy for months!
