Cyanotype on fabric???????

[tang369]

Hi i had a question about how many times i should prewash the fabric and what kind of fabric works best. i have cotton shirts and pillowcases (200 thread count) and a set of egyptian cotton pillow cases (400 TC). i heard cotton would work but if you guys have any other suggestions or tips it would be greaty appreciated Thanks!!

oh and how much chemistry should i use? i heard it was 6x as much for paper

 

[Loris Medici]

Tang, silk and cotton works well. Silk doesn't need washing, and I had good experience with double boiled / rinsed / dried cotton. There isn't an absolute amnt. for fabric; it depends much on the composition / weight and weaving. Do a couple of experiments; cyanotype chemistry is cheap to buy and/or prepare, don't worry much about the amount. You'll get the feeling very quickly...

Regards,
Loris.

 

[banana_legs]

Hi,

Two washes has worked well for me. To keep chemistry to a minimum, I have also pinned fabric to a board and then sized it with two coats of a 3% gelatine solution. The fabric goes stiff and can be handled just like paper. once the Cyanotype is made, a short soak and then rinses in warm water will dissolve and remove the gelatine. It is worth a few tests as the trick is to get enough gelatine to stop the chemistry soaking right into the fibres, but not too much that the image is only in the gelatine and not the cloth and then all washes out.

The closer the weave of the cloth, the easier it is to capture details in the print. I have done some printing onto linen which was quite coarse and the weave of the fabric becomes very prominent to the eye. As the 'threads' get thicker, they also seem more prone to changing their shape and so fine details that are smaller than the thread size tend to get a bit distorted and lost.

Best regards,

Evan

 

[tang369]

thanks everybody!

 

[foteinitina]

Hi everyone,
I want to contact print a 4X5 negative with cyanotype on a 100% silk fabric that I have weaved. Photographer’s Formulary instructions say that the fabric needs to be at least 50% cotton. Is that true? Do you know if there a way to print on 100% silk? Thanks!

 

[Donald Qualls]

I think the caution about 50% cotton has to do with the Prussian blue end product binding to the substrate. Most of the papers that work well have a high cotton rag content.

You might be able to get the print to bond if you presize the silk with starch of some kind, but I'd certainly try this on a scrap (especially with home/hand woven silk). It's going to be a matter of testing for yourself, in any case, I'm afraid.

 

[foteinitina]

that is helpful, thank you!

 

[fgorga]

Hi everyone,
I want to contact print a 4X5 negative with cyanotype on a 100% silk fabric that I have weaved. Photographer’s Formulary instructions say that the fabric needs to be at least 50% cotton. Is that true? Do you know if there a way to print on 100% silk? Thanks!

The way I understand things, is the 'warning' about 50% cotton has to do with the amount of synthetic fiber in the cloth... polyester and other synthetic fibers are not suitable for cyanotype.

I think that you should be fine with silk, but testing is always a good idea.

Also, this article might be of use... http://www.alternativephotography.com/cyanotypes-on-fabric-preparing-the-fabric/

 

[Donald Qualls]

I did just recall some folks have done cyano on gelatin over glass, and gelatin is often used for sizing papers for alt process printing as well. That might be another treatment to try, likely more durable than starch sizing.

 

[foteinitina]

The way I understand things, is the 'warning' about 50% cotton has to do with the amount of synthetic fiber in the cloth... polyester and other synthetic fibers are not suitable for cyanotype.

I think that you should be fine with silk, but testing is always a good idea.

Also, this article might be of use... http://www.alternativephotography.com/cyanotypes-on-fabric-preparing-the-fabric/

Thank you for sharing the article and for your reply!

You are right, cyanotype stayed on the silk fabric, the color and shades are light. But I think i need to try longer exposure to get darker tones.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Glad to hear it worked! I'd be interested in seeing the results...

 

[foteinitina]

Thank you for your advice! I cant publish photos but I would like to share that i tried both cotton and silk and both had similar results, the fabric was uneven because of the fiber and the weaving pattern and even though i didnt side the fabric the print stayed. I let hight contrast negatives for about 1.5-2 hours in the sunlight on partly cloudy days in Seattle.

 

[Donald Qualls]

I cant publish photos

"Can't" as in you have a technical issue with uploading an image, or "can't" as in there's a legal/business reason you aren't allowed? We can help, if you're having trouble uploading, and a cell phone photo is perfectly fine.

 

[MattKing]

IIRC, there are some short term uploading limits in place for brand new members of Photrio. They go away after a period of Photrio activity. They are designed to interfere with automated spam creators.

 

[Donald Qualls]

IIRC, there are some short term uploading limits in place for brand new members of Photrio. They go away after a period of Photrio activity. They are designed to interfere with automated spam creators.

Right. One alternative for that is to upload to a hosting site (I use Imgur, since Photobucket shot themselves in the collective foot), get the link from the site's interface, and paste the link here. Even if the board software doesn't embed the image from the link, many of us will follow a link to a known image site to see what others are doing, photographically speaking.

 

[foteinitina]

I am sorry I am not uploading photos and I hope you might understand. I dont have photos and i will not take photos of the cyanotypes because they are all made for a present.

If I have photos of prints in the future I will share

 

[Donald Qualls]

I dont have photos and i will not take photos of the cyanotypes because they are all made for a present.

Best possible reason. Carry on.

 

[foteinitina]

thanks!