Beginner's Guide to Cyanotype: Beautiful Projects to Print with Light
Perhaps you're like me and have always wanted to try your hand at cyanotype, but haven't known quite where to start. The blue and white images that can be achieved are so lovely though! Lucky for us, help has arrived via Kim Tillyer's comprehensive book, Beginners Guide to Cyanotype: Beautiful Projects to Print with Light, that details exactly what to do to meet with success.
It will be released by Search Press in the U.S. and Canada on June 4, 2024 and can be pre-ordered now in paperback or Kindle format.
Kim often combines plants and found objects in her prints that reflect the natural world. If you're completely new to the term, cyanotype is a process that can be used on paper, fabric, or any other surface that has been coated with a light sensitive emulsion.
She explains on her Witchmountain website that cyanotype is considered an alternative to photography. "There are lots of different recipes, some come ready mixed and you can even buy pre-coated “Sun print paper” but I like to mix my own solution."
"Design elements such as stencils, photographic negatives, plants, feathers and other objects are placed on the surface to block the light and once prepared the paper is exposed to sunlight (or a UV light source) and starts to oxidise, changing colour from pale yellow to a dark grey/green."
"Once developing is complete the print is rinsed in running water and then left to soak and washed again to make sure all the yellow solution has been removed. The washing stops the process and fixes the image so that it is now permanent."
"This is the moment of truth when you either have a beautiful image in ethereal shades of blue and white or it hasn’t quite come out right and it’s time to start again before the clouds cover the sun!"
And now, a BOOK GIVEAWAY for U.S. and Canada residents. [ENDED]
FIVE Winners!
To enter the giveaway, post a comment below after reading the following note:
NOTE: You must include your email address within your actual comment so that you can be notified if you win. If you wish, you may type the address within the comment box this way: janedoe at gmail dot com. (This blog's platform makes it impossible for me to see the email address that it requires you to type in first, thus the necessity to type it twice.)
This giveaway is also underway on Instagram [ENDED]. Would you like to double your chances? You may enter both places!
Five winners will be selected from combined blog and Instagram entries by a random
number generator on Sunday, May 26, notified, and announced on this
post and Instagram. Good luck!
Author of Beginner's Guide to Cyanotype, Kim Tillyer
UPDATE
Congratulations to lstroud, Georgayne, and Tahirah who won via their blog entries!
This giveaway is sponsored by Search Press.
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qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.
