No Simple Highway* (cyanotype print)

[laika]

Derived from 35mm Tri-X film, Rodinal developer. The print was made kinda quick-and-dirty on student grade watercolor paper, with cyanotype solution applied with a foam brush, then exposed in the sun. I let the brush marks show to let the homebrew nature of the print show on the edges.
*Grateful Dead - "Ripple"

 

[Charlie’s Mum (Maureen)]

Again, I’m lost as to process but the result is beautiful!

 

[Terri]

It's a beauty, Lamar!! Such an impressive tonal range, too. I agree with your decision to leave those brush marks visible - they are a badge of honor!

Beautiful work. I'm so happy to see it!

 

[Artyczar]

Wow! What a beautiful path, image, color, everything. I love the result of this. I'm intrigued with the process. Excellent work!

 

[laika]

Maureen, Terri, Artyczar - thanks for the nice comments!

As far as process, a pretty simple mix of chemicals results in a light-sensitive solution which can be brushed onto paper in a relatively dark place. A negative is sandwiched between glass sheets on top of the paper and exposed to sunlight for the appropriate length of time ( a few minutes), then washed in water for development. It's the simplest alternative process that I'm aware of. One interesting thing is that, after exposure to sunlight and washing, the resulting blue is chemically the same as Prussian Blue.

Also, prepared paper is available to make it even simpler. And photo negatives aren't necessary if you're open to experimenting with other materials (flowers and fern fronds seem to be favorites).

 

[Artyczar]

Nothing much better than Prussian blue.

 

[classic]

I love the brush strokes.
It seems that higher contrast subjects bring out nice with this process.

Do you use a negative to sandwich with the paper? This means that you have to make an intermediate positive film from your original 35mm Tri-X negative. Is this right?

 

[joe1It]

it's spectacular

 

[laika]

Thanks, joe and classic!

I love the brush strokes.
It seems that higher contrast subjects bring out nice with this process.

Do you use a negative to sandwich with the paper? This means that you have to make an intermediate positive film from your original 35mm Tri-X negative. Is this right?

I did look for a contrast-y image to work with (that must have been suggested to me). If IIRC, I made a digital negative from a scanned photo ( iguess the original Tri-X neg ceased to matter too much at some point in the process?) You are correct that it is a contact print - big digital negative on top of the paper and sandwiched under glass. It was done at a morning workshop-type thing and I was happy with the way it turned out after quick instruction.