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Cyanotype Printing - Create with the Power of the Sun

Created: 2025-09-03 21:39 Updated: 2025-09-03 21:48 Notebook: Alt-Process/Cyanotype

Instructor: Mohammed Shamma (mshamma@gmail.com), Instagram: @popiris_studios


Goal: Learn a brief history of the Cyanotype process and its creative potential for printing photograms and photographs. Participants will gain first hand practice mixing the emulsion, coating paper, measuring exposure and creating prints. 

0:00 – 0:10 | Welcome & Introduction

  • Who am I?  I’m a self taught artist.  I love alt-process (non-traditional/non-commercial) printing processes of photograms and photographs.  I also enjoy analog photography, Polaroids and a little linocut printmaking.  As an American of Egyptian ancestry, my work focuses on visually bridging the gap between the two cultures.  
  • Around the room with student introductions
  • Brief history of cyanotype printing, early photography/scientific illustration
  • Show sample cyanotype prints (botanical, photogram, negatives, experimental).
  • Outline the session flow and safety basics.
    • From Jacquard Products FAQ page for the Cyanotype kit:
      • Cyanotype is non-toxic and does not present any significant health risk or danger. That said, care should always be taken to avoid ingestion, inhalation and contact with skin when handling the cyanotype chemicals and fabrics
      • NOT USED IN THIS WORKSHOP: You might hear about “New Cyanotype (Mike Ware)”.  This process uses Ammonium iron(III).  Oxalate is also known as ferric ammonium oxalate. Like all oxalates, it is poisonous. 
  • Jacquard Cyanotype Safety Sheet (Provided by Blick Art Store Online)
  • Sun exposure - Pace yourself when working in the sun.  You want to enjoy the benefits (Vitamin D) and limit the UV radiation on your skin.

0:10 – 0:30 | Demonstration


0:30 – 0:40 | Mixing, coating and drying

  • Mix equal parts A and B into a container that fits your brush. 
    • Bostick & Sullivan offer instructions that count the actual drops needed for a given size of paper.
    • [shot glasses] Measure equal parts in separate dedicated glasses for A & B.
    • [food scale] Check the weight as you pour directly into your brush bowl or cup.
    • If you’re working with fabric then you would add the mixed solution to your dyeing vessel.
  • Work surface for coating.  
    • I prefer to use cheap canvases coated with black paint.  Flip the canvas over and it can serve as a decent coating and drying tray.  This works for most papers, especially those that are fragile or prone to curling when wet.
    • Try to use paper that’s just slightly smaller than the frame of the canvas, or that fits snugly between the frame and canvas.  
  • Coating paper with cyanotype emulsion is very similar to the watercolor flat wash brush technique but with the following differences:
    • Use the “wet on dry paper” method only.  The “wet on wet” or “prewetting” method will result in extremely underexposed or no results.
    • Your loaded “Cyanotype” brush should have less charge (saturation) than watercolor.
    • Load your wash brush with the Cyanotype solution and apply a horizontal line across the top of the paper.  The Cyanotype solution should NOT flow down the paper forming a bead at the lower edge of your brushstroke (a bead is an accumulation of excess moisture which forms at the end of a stroke).
    • Then start a new line that overlaps the previous one.  Try to avoid banding as much as possible.  
      • “Banding” or “streaking” occurs when the solution has dried on the paper before the next line could be applied.  In this case you may want to work faster (or smarter).  Sophia Jenny covers this in her Cyanotype mistakes video.  (1) Check your work climate.  You may be working in a very hot or dry climate.  (2) Check your paper type and quality.
    • The coated surface should have a continuous color with no variation in tone and hue, just like a good flat wash.
    • (YouTube) Demo Kristin King
  • Let the coated paper dry in a UV safe container.
    • If your goal is to maximize the photographic quality of your print, then the saturated paper surface must remain flat.  The emulsion should not move once attached to the surface.   This will help you achieve consistent results.  This also depends on the paper type of course.   
    • Papers should be dry within at least 1 hour, but may take up to 24 hours
    • Fabric may take longer (up to 24 hours)


0:40 – 1:10 | Creating and Printing Digital Negatives (option 1)


Printing the Negative



0:40 – 1:10 | First Printing Session (option 2)

  • Arrangement
    • Cover the coated paper with your digital negative (print side down) and place in the contact printing frame.  The benefit of using a contact printing frame is that you can check the exposure without moving the negative or coated paper.
    • Objects on sensitized paper
  • Sunlight exposure
      • Summer morning – using translucent paper negative: 4 minutes
      • Summer midday – using translucent paper negative: 3 – 3.5 minutes
      • Winter morning – using translucent paper negative: 4.30 – 6.30 minutes
      • Winter morning – using inkjet transparencies: 3 minutes
  • UV exposure light
    • My setup is roughly 1.5 stronger than the sun on a good sunny summer day.
  • How were these times calculated?
    • The sunlight and UV exposure times are all relative and will vary according to your conditions: Cyanotype solution quality, coating density, paper type, water type, UV index, artwork).  
      • Let’s experiment by keeping the solution quality, coating density, paper and water type the same.
      • That leaves two other variables: artwork and the UV source.
      • In order to keep the artwork the same, you would need to:
        • Use the same leaf each time (or type of leaf)
        • Use the same digital negative each time.
      • At this point the easiest thing to do is coat several sheets of paper (or fabric) and make different versions based on changing the time: 
        • (v1) 1:30 sec, (v2) 1:45 sec, (v3) 2:00 minutes… and so on


1:10 – 1:30 | Developing Prints

  • One of the reasons for cyanotype’s continued and increasing popularity is that aside from only two chemicals to make up the solution, it requires only water to process a print. It is as low tech a process there is. Even though low tech, it is still important to pay attention and be consistent, especially when processing. If the cyanotype print is left in the wash water for too little time, iron left in the print will result in yellowed highlights and wreak havoc down the road, fading the highlights to gray.  If the print is left in the wash water too long, it fades quite dramatically. If the wash water is alkaline, the print not only fades, but also turns to a brown or gray color.  Watch the temperature of the wash water. Anywhere from cool to quite warm is acceptable, for example, 70°–100°F. 
  • Test your tap water: using a pH testing kit ($$$) or pH test strips ($) to determine its current alkalinity. Sonoma water is typically 8.2 to 8.6 for 95 percent of the output.   If your water is alkaline (above 7), add a small amount of white vinegar or citric acid. You can also use products designed for aquariums to adjust pH. Add the acid slowly: while re-testing the pH until it reaches the desired range of 5 to 7. Use the acidified water: for your developing and rinsing steps.
  • Agitation or running water:  This is entirely up to you as the developer and final judge of your work.
    • Agitate your paper by grabbing an uncoated edge of the paper and shaking it horizontally.  The goal of this is to loosen some of the unexposed solution that may not dissolve within the measured washing time.  The amount of agitation will vary with paper type, pre-exposure drying time, water temperature and method.  
    • Some people choose to develop their prints under running water as a form of agitation and wash.  This can be tricky so proceed with caution when experimenting.  Too much washing may erase the highlights and some of the midtones.
  • The image will shift from greenish to deep Prussian blue.
  • Hang prints to dry overnight.  You can use a hair dryer to speed this up but proceed with caution.  Use a low setting at a minimum distance of 6 inches on the back side of the paper.


1:50 – 2:00 | Wrap-Up & Sharing


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