On 25th Jan afternoon, somehow I happened to have been in A Block 002 and I stumbled upon some extremely new technique called “Cyanotype” that the BDes Third year (Akanksha, Ishani, Kaushek) students 2020 batch were about to start, for their class on ‘Contemporary Photography’ taken by Deepak and Ankana (PhD Scholar). Although sometime back I did read about Anna Atkins, but did not really pay the attention it deserved. Her book “Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions” is considered the first illustrated book with photographic images of dried Algae and Seaweeds, which was self published in October 1843, right after the techniques invention in 1842 by her friend Sir John Herschel, who wanted to reproduce his mathematical tables and charts. Anna Atkins is also regarded as the first woman photographers of her time. Only 17 copies of the limited edition book of Anna Atkins is now left with the renowned world libraries.
Cyanotype is a traditional photography technique used for reproduction and it uses chemical process and light. The chemicals used are ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide in 1:1 ratio, although there are variations in the blue shade that could be achieved just by changing the composition levels.
So to start with this process a few handmade sheets and watercolor papers were picked and then these were taken to the dark room and the chemical mixture was carefully applied, taking utmost care, as it could be dangerous, once the chemical was thoroughly applied you can choose to make a wet cyanotype or a dry one. I chose both and the results could be seen in the below images.
The chemically treated sheets are then composed with dried leafs, objects, negatives etc. I chose to do photograms that are mostly object specific and then pressed onto two glass sheets so that it doesn’t move. It is then transferred to a well lit space, with ample amount of sunlight. And depending upon the weather conditions you can extend or decrease the time. Once exposed you need to wash the extra chemical and remove the objects and your print is ready.
Extremely thankful to Ankana Sen who guided me really well in each step throughout the Cyanotype Printing Process