Description
I am so excited to explore the world of Cyanotypes with you. This is one of the easiest printing techniques you can do at home without expensive equipment or a photography darkroom. While this was a very popular printing process for engineers well into the 20th century, it is becoming increasingly popular with photographers and artist wanting to push their creativity with printing.
After playing with hundreds of prints myself, working with dry cyanotype, wet cyanotype and toning, I have come up with so many variations from the traditional cyan-blue colored print. I’m looking forward to showing you these techniques and cannot wait to see the creative ways you use this medium in your art!
Who is this workshop good for? Photographers, artists, and any creatives – who want to jump into the world of alternative photographic printing techniques. This is one of the easiest printing techniques for photography and requires no expensive equipment or a photography darkroom. Cyanotypes are amazing for making one-of-a-kind prints and collage papers for mixed media art. We’ll also take our learning further and jump into Van Dyke prints and Lumen prints to give you a really nice collection of printing techniques you can use for your art.
**You have lifetime access to this workshop – Workshop videos are available for you to download and keep. Your workshop includes approx 3.5 hours of video.
Cyanotype – Alternative Photographic Printing Workshop:
Your workshop includes both video and written instructions. This is a mini-masterclass designed to get you completely comfortable working with the cyanotype chemicals and process. I prefer to work with non-toxic materials in the printing process – so most of the choices I will recommend are safe, non-toxic and can be easily found at your local grocery or hardware store.
In this workshop we will go over the basics and more:
- We’ll talk about chemical safety and working with the cyanotype liquids.
- I go over all of the needed supplies and tell you some of my preferred papers you can use for printing your cyanotypes on. I’ll also show you some alternative choices you can make such as printing on fabrics.
- I’ll show you how to create your own digital negatives to use on your prints
- We’ll go over how to mix your cyanotype chemicals – it’s easy I promise
- How to properly coat your paper
- Preparing your prints for exposing outside in the sun
- How to determine correct exposure times in the sun for your print
- Washing your print after exposure
- Different toning methods you might consider to tone your prints past the standard cyan-blue color we associate with the cyanotype – the methods I prefer are non-toxic and easy to find at your local grocery or hardware store.
- How to flatten your dried prints
- I’ll show you some advanced wet cyanotype techniques using common household items and some art supplies.
- I’ll go over some troubleshooting points to make sure you get the best prints when you are working on your cyanotypes.
- And… I’ll show you my super cheap drying rack I created using a simple box and some twine to dry your prints in!
Bonus – Van Dyke – Alternative Photographic Printing Workshop
Welcome to Van Dyke prints! I love the beautiful brown color the Van Dyke method produces. Very similar, yet completely different than the Cyanotype!
This is another one of the easiest printing techniques you can do at home without expensive equipment or a photography darkroom. The chemicals are slightly different but we are going to be building onto what we learned in the Cyanotype portion of this workshop:
- We’ll talk about chemical safety and working with the Van Dyke liquids.
- I go over all of the needed supplies and tell you some of my preferred papers you can use for printing your Van Dyke prints on.
- How to properly coat your paper
- Preparing your prints for exposing in the sun
- How to determine correct exposure times for your print
- Fixing and Washing your print after exposure
- and I’ll go over some troubleshooting points to make sure you get the best prints when you are working on your Van Dyke prints.
Bonus – Lumen Prints – Alternative Photographic Printing Workshop
Welcome to Lumen prints! This is one of my favorite print techniques besides the wet cyanotypes. It is easy, doesn’t take a lot of materials, and the prints are so beautiful when you are finished. Very ethereal. One of the most exciting things about Lumen printing to me is the unpredictability of it. It is a surprise as to what you are going to get depending on the papers you choose. So much fun doing these!
In this workshop we will be building on the skills we learned in the Cyanotype and Van Dyke portions:
- I go over all of the needed supplies and I’ll show you the results I got from using various different black-n-white papers
- Preparing your prints for exposing in the sun
- How to determine correct exposure times for your print
- Fixing and Washing your print after exposure
- and I’ll go over some troubleshooting points to make sure you get the best prints when you are working on your lumen prints.
Check out what students are saying about this workshop in our group:
“Have watched all the videos – was like a book I couldn’t put down! Amazing amazing workshop! Now to gather some supplies. Thanks so much for the enormous amount of research you did – just incredible.”
“I’ve waited anxiously to get this workshop and got it yesterday and very excited! Started watching it yesterday and I have to work this weekend, but with Monday being a snowstorm guess what I’m doing!”
Check out what students are saying about my other workshops in our workshop group:
“Denise, I am loving your still life courses, I’ve already learned so much.”
“I had an “aha” moment while studying these videos… Look for the soft diffused light… use the light… reflect the light… bend the light… it’s really all about that light!”
“I am loving this latest workshop you have put together.”
“I have been working on your food workshop videos! They are so well presented!! You did an AWESOME job!!! :)”
“I may be hooked on free-lensing I keep telling myself, Just one more shot..”
“Creative Flowers Workshop. Fluttering Petals technique. This workshop has stirred something in me.”
“I’m loving the Still Stories Workshop! The section on lighting was a game changer for me as I’ve always done photography outdoors and didn’t really know how to work with indoor light.”
“Since beginning the Still Stories course I am seeing still life everywhere.”
Once you make your purchase – your course will be available for you immediately. You will access your course under the “my courses” tab up top under the “my account” tab.
You must be logged in to view your course. All of the videos are available for download for you to keep. I provide a Vimeo link below each video – which will allow you to access the Vimeo video page for your download options.
*This course has lifetime access (This means you can continue to access this course for the lifetime of this website and all of the videos are available for you to download and keep!).
