Walking The Tawe Path
I’m going on a FIRE Lab field trip with a colleague tomorrow to walk the River Tawe Path, making cyanotypes along the way. It looks like the weather will be great for exposing these in the sunshine. I spent most of today preparing and I wanted to do a trial run as I haven’t done any for a while. I found some ready-prepared paper tucked away in a folder and grabbed some bits of plants from my garden. I perched the paper on my garden bench and put a sheet of glass over it and let the sun bathe it in light for 10 minutes – it was about 1pm so the light was very strong.
Vintage Paper
The plants were quite fleshy and the glass couldn’t squash them flat and they threw slight shadows onto the treated paper, so I guessed the end image wouldn’t be the sharpest. The paper is a sheet of vintage I was given a while back, quite old and no watermark so I had no idea if it was even printmaking paper. It’s very thick and absorbent, almost like cloth. I took a photo (above) after 10 minutes exposure, before I put it in the sink to develop it.
Soft And Shadowy
Cyanotype is developed in cold water, first in running water and then a good soak in water with a dash of vinegar added. I like the way this one has turned out – the combination of the soft creamy paper and the shadowy images gives it an ethereal quality.
scribblah 
It must be ‘in the air’, I have also been doing cyanotype lately on cloth. I love the way you’ve painted it on randomly. I am considering taking some to my residency at the end of September and you have given me another approach to consider. Thanks 😊
Bockingford 300gsm is the most consistent paper to use but I often get a bit creative with the brushwork 😀
I like the ethereal quality too. Will await more experiments.
Plenty more coming up …
Love these…..what is the coating you laid the flowers on? Just watercolour or acrylic? Thank you Caroline
Hi Caroline, it’s Bockinford paper coated with cyanotype 🙂 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanotype
I love these and the technique is fascinating! You’re so versatile, I always like to see what you’ll be doing next.
I agree, Rosie is a true artist.
Andrue
Thanks Leah and Andrue