Kew Palace

This is fascinating. Beautiful quality to the print. The paper asserts its character too.

I agree. Great primitive look..in a nice way

It's amazing, but Cyanotype seems to do better the crappier the paper you put it on.

...which is exactly what I'm finding out and wondering if I really do want to take the leap to Cranes or Arches type papers. I've found that (2 500sheet packs for 6ukp)"hammered finish" paper for inkjets works very nice while windsor&newton cotman watercolour postcards, which I saw recommended on here for cyanotypes once, really really does not work. I tried soaking it in stopbath or vinegar and it still really did not want to work. Colour washing out and staining highlights etc.

I tried some "high quality" writing paper which was still deadtree paper, not cotton rag or anything and found the funny watermarkings on the paper messed with the cyanotype too.

I like stonehenge and canson. Cheap too. I think they split tone nicely with a dunk in some hot tea and a good hot wash.
others hate them. C'est la vie

I really like this.

I'm thinking of taking along some pre-coated cyanotype paper on one of my tutoring weeks next year for people to make photograms on - just as an introduction to alternative processes to give them something 'new' to think about - and I think this may be just the paper I'm looking for.

The box brownie look of the negative (spherical aberration, I suppose) really seems to suit the cyanotype print too. Like it a lot.



Peter

Jersey Vic - I wish there were more cyanotypists (?) working with locally available papers in the UK. Almost all of the papers I've seen recommended are ones in the US (I'm from New Hampshire and I remember having a Stonehenge watercolour pad as a kid) which is fine for the majority I guess but it's difficult, and more expensive, to import those cheaper papers than it is to work with domestic products. Maybe one day I'll set up a information page on what works and where to get papers in the UK. Cranes/Arches is about 18+GBP for 10 sheets which seems a little silly for cyanotypes where you're not working with very expensive chemicals. Recently I've found someone in Hong Kong using Thai handmade paper in different colours so I'm going to try to find a water-resistant red paper (possibly Ingres paper) to try it out.
That is, if the sun ever comes out again or if ebay cooperates with me more fully in producing a facial tanning unit that is less than the retail price of 50GBP... So frustrating it being so cloudy here.

Bandicoot - Go for it. If you can, get some cheap film (7dayshop or silverprint have lucky film for 1.18/roll) and get a Brownie No.2 off of ebay. Take a few rolls of film and then you can hand out a few negatives to do contact prints with. All you need after that, and the cyanotype paper, is a piece of heavy glass. You can get proper contact printing frames, albeit small 3x5inch ones, on ebay for a fiver too. These are lovely splitback frames c.1920s or so and I've never had anyone bidding against me on them. I have a stack of them now and the 3x5" frames are excellent for sticking this postcard paper in with a brownie neg on it. It's just the right size.

This image (and your polaroid of the sky) just goes to show that this hobby is about having fun and expressing yourself. You can take wonderfully evocative pictures without spending a fortune on the latest whizz bang equipment. Love your work so far ; thanks for sharing .
Chris Benton