Cyanotypes

The Cyano type process is one of the oldest photographic processes

It was the first photographic process that did not use silver to form light sensitive images.

it was discovered in 1842 by this man
His name was Sir John Herschel

He also Coined the terms "photograph", "Positive and negative", and "snapshot".

A negative is what happens when you take a picture using film

A positive is what you get when you print a photograph from a negative

The cyanotype process was first used to reproduce blueprints

It was then used to make images used to study plants

The process is very simple

First you brush the special light sensitive liquid onto your paper

Then you let it dry

Once its dry you decide what kind of cyanotype you want to make

the first option is to make a positive using a negative

you can use tracing paper make your negatives.

you can draw or use stickers on tracing paper to make these negatives.

The other type of cyanotype you can make is called a photogram

a photogram is created when you place objects onto your paper and expose your paper to light

you can use anything with defined edges to make photograms

once you have decided what kind of cyanotype to make its time to expose them

a cyanotype is made when your paper is exposed to direct sunlight.  any part of the paper that the sun touches will turn blue and any part that is blocked from the sun will turn white.

when your cyanotype is ready it will look like this.

the next step is to rinse the cyanotype in the sink.  When you do this your cyanotype will go from grey to blue.

they will look something like this

the last step is to dry the cyanotype by hanging it on the clothes line.  once it is dry you have your finished cyanotype!