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#sunprint

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kelsey!
I bought some Jacquard pre-treated cyanotype fabric months ago that I’ve been meaning to experiment with— and last night was finally the night! My friend is hosting a jean jacket bedazzling party which I am SUPER excited about, so I decided to make a cyanotype patch out of a digital design— and oooooh it turned out even better than I hoped for!

It’s extra satisfying because I created a top ten list of priorities at the beginning of the year and one of them was to finish a craft project I’d already started or for which I’d already purchased supplies, so this patch making definitely counts towards that goal!

I also have a set of the chemicals on their own and a stash of things to apply it to, like tote bags and canvas pouches! Plus I’ve got some pressed flowers I gathered while camping last year that I’m excited to use for more floral designs. Hooray for being inspired by the things I already own instead of chasing the new shiny thing! Can’t wait to do more cyanotype projects!!!

The quote is from the Desiderada, the font is Shrikhand, and the circle of leaves was drawn by me in Procreate.

#cyanotype #cyanotypeart #sunprint #art #natureart #prettythings #shadesofblue
#shadesofblue
Public
Alun Kirby

A Cyanotype: from prepared exposure to final image. An experiment for the Jetsam series.

1st - exposure of layers of plastic on top of cyanotype paper in a contact frame. Exposed for about 6 hours.

2nd - post-exposure / pre-development. The crucial step! Judging when to stop exposure is the hardest thing to learn

3rd - post-development 'final' image. Texture and structure as hoped!










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Alun Kirby

A first experiment with Jetsam.

This is using lots of fragments of plastic matter of all kinds, but essentially 2D.

I am layering up to 5 or 6 pieces, as I want to develop texture.

The idea is that these fragments of memories come together to create a new composite memory. Perhaps in the way a socially-shared memory differs from the way any single individual might remember it.

A large contact printing frame - wooden, with glass - containing pieces of plastic jetsam found on Matosinhos beach, Porto. They are layered randomly, almost totally covering a piece of cyanotype-coated paper. It is ready for exposure in the sun.
The cyanotype image resulting from the layers of plastic. It is an abstract, highly textured image in shades from a very deep indigo, through many blues to areas of pure white. Almost no identifiable original forms remain.
#cyanotype#blueprint#jetsam
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Alun Kirby

Another experiment in composition with gull feathers.

This one is on a large (60 x 50cm) piece of fabulous Arches paper.

Unfortunately, it's hard to capture the richness of the blue, or the texture the paper gives. It's by far the most satisfying depth of colour... the feathers are floating either in a deep sea or in the perfect sky.

An image of 16 gull feathers printed in cyanotype. The tips and shafts are white, the rest and the background are shades of blue like that expensive denim I lust for but can't afford. The feathers are horizontally and vertically placed in an abstract arrangement
#cyanotype#blueprint#feathers
Public
Alun Kirby

This is 'crumple' origami. Used a lot by French origamists 'Le CRIMP'.

Thin, crisp paper (here tracing paper) is folded and then crushed. The process allows the paper to be shaped into flexible, organic forms.

This paper was coated in cyanotype. The form I made was exposed in the sun for 10 minutes, and developed.

If I hadn't put my fingers through the wet paper it would be good!

An origami form made of crumpled, matt blue paper. It looks like irregular square open cones, points away from us, which join at their upper edges. There are 16 of these cones, but only 4 are clearly fully visible, as the overall structure is like a hemisphere and the other cones are not facing our viewpoint
A single piece of white paper, which looks like it has been divided into 16 squares (4 by 4). Each square has an abstract starburst of blue lines - the lines all come from the centre of each square. The overall effect is that this is 16 individual squares stuck together, but it's not. It's just one sheet of paper, which used to be the origami form in the previous image. The cyanotype exposure has made these patterns.
A close up of the coming together of four corners of the squares in the previous image. The 'joins' are clearly creases
Close up of a single square from the overall image. Fragments of 8 other squares can be seen around it; four joining at the sides looking like strips of stripes, and four at the corners looking like small squares. All is blue and white stripy loveliness
#cyanotype#origami#blueprint
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Alun Kirby

Abstraction and memory.

Scraps of cyanotype coated tissue paper - forgotten parts of other works - laid out in up to 6 layers as 'negatives'.

Sun reveals the constructed image. It reminds me of [ ].

And you?

It's a strange creative process.

Like searching for the memory of something you had forgotten that you remembered.

An abstract of what seems white marks on a greenish blue background which differs in shades all over the paper The white marks look like brush marks. There is a main upright form centreright, with offshoots horizontally both left and right
Scraps of white tissue paper with dark painted brush marks. The paper is is multiple layers and there are many scraps
Detail from the first image showing white marks, blue marks and green marks with lots of tonal and textural variation
Detail from the first image showing white marks, blue marks and green marks with lots of tonal and textural variation
#cyanotype#blueprint#scraps
Public
Alun Kirby

When coating with cyanotype there are often brush-marked edges I choose to remove.

Today I'm using these edge strips, from watercolour paper, to make a composite background.

I'm then using multiple layers of tissue paper edges to make an abstract 'paper negative'.

This is all held in a contact frame to expose for several days. Maybe a week.

Overlaid strips of white tissue paper with brush marks in grey-greenish blue, laid vertically, with a few strips of similar coloured watercolour paper laid horizontally across them
Overlaid strips of white tissue paper with brush marks in grey-greenish blue, laid in an abstract pattern on a rectangular base. Scraps of similar paper, a cutting board and a metal rule can be seen around them
Close up of overlaid strips of white tissue paper with brush marks in grey-greenish blue, laid in an abstract pattern on a rectangular base.
Close up of overlaid strips of white tissue paper with brush marks in grey-greenish blue, laid in an abstract pattern. Held in a wooden contact frame viewed from directly above on a patterned carpet background
#cyanotype#blueprint#sunprint
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