I've been on disability since April due to medical problems, which has left me with a lot of free time. Yesterday I was pretty bored and decided I better do some art! I've had this sun sensitive paper around for a while and thought I'd better put it to some use, and the results are in I LOVE this medium! Check it!
You can find sun sensitive paper at your local art supplies store (ie Michael's or Hobby Lobby) apparently there is also sun sensitive fabric!
You'll want to start this project inside with no direct sunlight around as it'll mess up the paper. Find neatly shaped objects from around the house and decide how you want to place them. I used some old keys as I liked their shape, my charm bracelet, watch and a random broken leg which was once the leg lamp from that old classic movie A Christmas Story.
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| "Before" |
Once you've got your objects and placement, take it outside! I put my project on an old cardboard box I had lying around, which I suggest. If it's windy outside you may need to use pins to hold down the paper/objects.
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| Bunch of random objects I had laying around the house. |
The paper will come with directions about how long to keep the paper out in the sun, as it was a warm sunny day I left mine out for 7 minutes.
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| 2 minutes under running cold water |
After the 7 minutes was up the directions instructed to take off the objects and rinse off the paper for 2 minutes..wired right?!
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| Soakin' |
Now time to let this baby soak for 10 minutes, then remove and let dry.
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| Ta-Da!!The finished project! |
I let this sucker dry out and here's the final product, pretty damn awesome. At least I had a good time! :)
I first learned about this type of "photography" from an art project book, and I enjoyed this medium so much I decided to do a little more research about it.
I guess this type of "photography" is officially called Cyanotype. It was first discovered back in the 1800's and a woman by the name of Anna Atkins was the first to bring it to the photography side as it was originally used to create blue prints and such back in the day. From what I read Anna is considered to be the first female photographer because of her role in using this method. Pretty interesting stuff.
After further reading I found there are different techniques you can do to achieve different colors/tones of these "photographs", such as using laundry detergent that contains phosphates to get a gold print; or using black tea to soak the print in order to get a sepia type look. I definitely planning on getting some more of this sun sensitive paper and experimenting in the future..until next time!
Cheers <3
