Has anyone ever made a Cyanotype print before? It’s something I’ve been interested in, and might be possible with some help from @silkscreentechs ?
Particularly I’m hoping to print a nice traditional blueprint on some largeish paper at some point.
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Done a tiny bit of this…good fun
No but also a big fan of cyanotypes.
We’ll be accommodating up to A2 in SilkScreen in terms of what we provide but feel free to get your own kit to go larger.
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Awesome!
Looks like the main thing is finding somewhere that you can put the sensitised substrate to try in the dark, then work out how to expose it with UV. @pip Is the plan for the silkscreening setup to have an A2 light box, or is the plan to use the day star for that job? 
Building a lightbox, toughened glass was delivered today! Is 610 x 1020mm (shave a bit off for frame/box) and will be array of UV LEDs. We also have an screen emulsion drying box, will fit a 36" x 25" frame.
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Double awesome 
What I might do is get some pre-sensitised solar paper to start with just to practice a bit. But after that for the larger format print I want to do, might want to get some chemicals in.
Questions:
- Is anyone else interested in doing the same and wants to chip in on the cost of the chemicals
- If we did that, would there be space to store said chemicals in the silkscreen area?
How much are the chemicals?
How bulky are they and are there COSHH implications? We have a fireproof cabinet if so. But we can probably fit them in.
From my favourite photography store:
http://shop.silverprint.co.uk/Cyanotype/products/541/
They do a kit for £25, but possibly only has enough for a few small runs…
http://shop.silverprint.co.uk/Silverprint-Cyanotype-Kit/product/1821/1821/
The chemicals required are
- Potassium Ferricyanide (MSDS) £16.46 for 500g
- Ferric Ammonium Citrate (MSDS) £36.00 for 500g
We’d probably also want two 250ml glass bottles for made up solutions (£3.30 each)
Also from COSHH, according to COSHH eTool, they recommend these controls:
There’s no particular storage concerns, they’re not very hazardous, so no special requirements.
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I would be up for this - I have zero experience in it but the process seems very ineteresting and I’d love to give it a try.
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Holy thread resurrection, batman!
We totally made a cyanotype photogram at the party yesterday
Also one I made earlier:
For this, I went up to Parallax Photographic Coop in Brixton and purchased some ready-made cyanotype paper sheets, rather than applying the emulsion to the paper ourselves.
As it turns out, silverprint supply the two chemicals in smaller quantities.
We’d need a couple of bottles to keep be made up solutions in, and one to mix it in.
You can also apply the solution to other materials like wood and fabric
If there’s a corner of the screenprinting area that could house a couple of bottles, I’d happily get this get set up when I’m next able to - if there’s interest. Could even do a workshop - there’s not much to it, mind you! And a lot of time will be spent waiting for things to dry I’d suspect…
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I’ve been meaning to do this for six months. I got a load of the kits for cyanotype, salt prints and argyrotypes but have yet to finish making a printing frame to do them justice, or finish fiddling with the large format printer to make contact negatives of a large enough size.
I would absolutely be up for doing some.