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While you're preparing to print, work with the coated paper in a dim room away from direct sunlight. This is fine, it will flatten out again once it's completely dry. Let the paper dry in a dark place a fan will help speed this up. Metal will react with these solutions so make sure your brush has no metal components. You don't need to mix much, I've found that ~1/2 teaspoon of sensitized solution is enough to coat one 9x12 inch sheet of paper.Ĭover a work surface in newspaper or paper towels and coat the watercolor paper with a foam brush. Once combined, the solution is fairly reactive to light, so only mix what you will immediately use. In a dim room, combine equal volumes of each solution in a small bottle and mix thoroughly. These will keep indefinitely as long as they are stored away from sunlight. Tightly cap both and shake until each is completely dissolved. In a second container, mix 100g of ferric ammonium citrate with 500ml distilled water. Mix 40g of potassium ferricyanide with 500ml distilled water. Here are links to the Safety Data Sheets (SDS):Īnyone can work with these chemicals safely as long as they follow simple and commonsense precautions. over a gram) of unused chemical to a house-hold hazardous waste disposal day (check you're town government website to find where/when the next one is). Small amounts of chemicals may be disposed of down the drain, but consider taking any large amounts (ex.
#Similar to photograv skin#
Ingesting either of these chemicals or letting either contact your skin directly may cause health problems. Dispose of any utensils and containers that have touched the chemicals after you're done and wear disposable gloves while working with them.
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That means the anthotypes can reproduce a positive image, but cyanotypes require a negative to produce a positive final image more on that later.Ī quick note on mixing chemicals: Both of these chemicals are relatively safe to work with, but please use caution. Notice that with the turmeric anthotype, the exposed areas of the paper turn light, but with cyanotypes the exposed areas turn dark. The cyanotype process is sensitive enough to reproduce photographs, although they won't have the same level of detail as darkroom photos or digital images (at least mine didn't). The photosensitive chemicals, potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate, react when exposed to UV light to form Prussian blue dye, which has a deep blue color. Anthotypes are particularly cool because all the ingredients are fairly safe for anyone to use and available at most grocery stores.Ĭyanotypes are made by a similar principal, but with different chemicals. After exposure, the image can be developed by reacting the unexposed curcumin, where it was shielded from the light, with sodium tetraborate (found in Borax powdered detergent). Unexposed curcumin will react with sodium tetraborate to form a dark brown organo-metallic complex.
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The bright yellow curcumin degrades (relatively) rapidly when exposed to ultraviolet light. In this case I'm using curcumin extracted from turmeric powder with isopropyl alcohol. Images produced by laying objects over a light sensitive surface like this are called photograms.Īn anthotype is an image made with photosensitive extracts from plants. The light causes a chemical reaction in the coating, causing an image to form. Objects or a negative are used to block light from hitting certain areas of a piece of paper coated with a light-sensitive chemical. Anthotypes and cyanotypes are both ways of printing an image onto a piece of paper using light.