It must have been like 2nd grade that I first was exposed to sunprints, also known as cyanotypes. Do you remember doing these? Lay a handful of objects on the magic paper, leave in sunlight a few minutes, then rinse? The shadows appear in negative for a really cool print. Fallon is currently in a photogrpahy class and they are making photograms, a similar process, and it reminded me that I had a pack of the paper from SunArt. Notice the 6+ in the corner. Ha!
I've been gathering supplies for the upcoming Synchronicity workshop next month, so this was a perfect opportunity to make some fun papers to share. Some of my stamp designs were converted into borders and printed onto transparency then placed over the specially treated paper. You can see I tried both positive and negative versions. The mostly dark blue strips were made from the film on the left, and the lighter blue ones were generated under the one on the right. Love the blueprint effect, don't you? The process is so old school….as in, I did this about 40 years ago in elementary school!
SunArt paper should be available at your local craft store. Try the kid section, and the printmaking section. You can also score some at Amazon, HERE. The days are getting shorter….make use of that solar energy when you can! It only takes a few minutes.
Wait! You can also make cyanotype prints on get sun-sensitive fabric! If I didn't dislike blue so much I might be tempted to try making a silk scarf or something. Google "cyanotype fabric" if you're interested.
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