CYANOTYPE GUIDE
Four steps stand between a photo you took and a Prussian blue print in your hands.
Nothing here needs a darkroom, only two chemicals, sunlight, and tap water.
Each step below links to the full walkthrough with photos, materials, and the mistakes worth skipping.
Step 1 Creating A Physical Negative
Cyanotype is a contact process: The print comes out the exact size of your negative, and the values come out reversed. unless using physical items like flowers or lace for developing, step one happens on a screen.
Step 2 Cyanotype Solution Preparation
Two chemicals do the work: Ferric Ammonium Citrate and Potassium Ferricyanide. Brush the solution onto paper in low light and let it dry completely in the dark. Use gloves and care with the powders, it’s still chemistry.
Step 3 Radiation (Light) Exposure
Sandwich the negative under glass against the coated paper and put it in the sun (or under a UV lamp).
The dye shifts from yellow-green to olive to a bronzed gray-blue as it exposes.
Timing is everything in cyanotype development and the sun doesn’t hold still: the Sunprint UVI Forecast turns your local UV index into a reliable exposure time.
Step 4 Wash + Tone + Dry
Rinse the print in cool water until the yellow unexposed dye clears and only blue remains. That wash is the final step of development. From there it’s done, or it’s back to being a raw material: A washing soda (Not baking soda) bleaching knocks the blue back, and a tea bath rebuilds it in sepias. Either way, hang it to dry and wait. The blue keeps deepening for a day or two as it oxidizes.
now post it!
Log your print at The Cyanotype Network!
Post with the exposure time, UV index and other notes to give the community a better understanding of what worked for you and what didn’t.
Flag the post as ” Asking for Help” to get helpful tips from other developers.
