I'm been working furiously to capture the last images of summer, while also greatly looking forward to autumn. This time of year is great for appreciating the insect damage on leaves, like these Japanese anemones, above. I'm also enjoying the last of the gladiolus, below.
For this batch of wet cyanotype prints, I continued to use a spritz of diluted Dye-na-flow textile paint on the foam board under the fabric. I also mixed it up a bit by using a light spray of diluted washing soda around the edges, after laying on the leaves. It changes the pH and breaks down the chemicals to add more mottling.
I never tire of plume poppy leaves, above, and hostas, below.
If you are new here, I am documenting my experiments with the wet cyanotype process, including the many successes and the handful of failures. You can view all the posts in reverse chronological order by clicking on the Wet Cyanotype tab in the top header.
I rounded out this batch with a melange of a wood poppy leaf, a calla leaf, and some Christmas fern fronds.
My previous exposure local was getting more shaded as the season progresses, so I set these in a different spot that gets continual sun. It was a hot sunny day, with moderate humidity. After a ten hour day I declared these done and brought them in to dry before rinsing.
The washing soda effect was dramatic on some of them. And the paint colored in the gladiolus nicely.
There's so much going on here!
After a somewhat disappointing try with a calla leaf in the last batch, I was especially happy with the first look at this one:
Here are the finished prints. It looks like fireworks, or some sort of outrageous celestial events, are happening in the backgrounds:
The dynamic tension in this one is intense:
The interior of the plume poppy leaves often tend towards purple tones with this technique:
I captured lots of veining with this hosta leaf:
I am very chuffed about this one:
All in all, a good day and a good batch of prints.
Stay tuned, there's (at least) one more batch on the way. And thanks for reading and commenting.
4 comments:
These are amazing! Thanks so much for sharing your processes and results.
I've got to try the soda ash spray....it looks absolutely fabulous!!
thanks Sue for your generosity in sharing your process,
Barbara
I've just discovered this series and am finding them enormously inspiring - thank you so much for documenting what you're doing and making it easy to access!
These are fabulous!
You mention washing soda adds mottling ... I'm wondering about where the golden and green tones come from, and I'm noticing them around the edges - which is where the washing soda was. Any connection?
Thanks again!
Maybe? There's a lot of variables in the process (which is what I love about it), including heat, humidity, angle of the sun, length of exposure, amount of added moisture, the type of plant material used, and yes, adding chemicals like washing soda that change the pH. Even without the washing soda, I get a range of colors, but the soda does seem to enhance it. Thanks for reading and engaging!
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