In 2020 I bought a cyanotype kit for the kids. I had ulterior motives, though. I wanted to try printing from negatives. Unfortunately I don’t have the equipment for darkroom printing, nor do I have any large negatives since I throw them away after I scan them.
The easiest and cheapest way around this is to use cyanotype printing. All it requires is some sunlight, a couple chemicals, and a large transfer. To do the transfer, I used some clear laser printer transparency. By picking the images I wanted to print and inverting them in photoshop, I was able to create 8×10 negatives. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t negative quality, but they work for this purpose .
The prep work for the cyanotype consists of mixing two chemicals together in a small amount and brushing a coat of it into watercolor paper or fabric. After the paper dries (in the dark) it turns yellow and is UV sensitive.
Taking a dry sheet, I laid the transparency on top of it and converted it with a piece of picture frame glass to keep it pressed against the paper. The average time was about 7 minutes in full sun.
After the exposure, it was time to rinse. I filled the sink with a little water and added some hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizer to speed up development. It takes about 30 seconds to develop and then a couple hours to dry completely.
The finished product was pretty decent. For the most part, the transparencies turned out ok but a couple had streaks. This was likely because adhering toner carbon to plastic sheets isn’t a perfect science.
Overall it was a fun process and I encourage anyone itching to dip your toes in the water of darkroom printing to give this a try first. You don’t need a film camera either. Take a photo on your phone or digital camera, Desaturate and invert it in an image editor, and print to transparency.
Aragon's Eye 
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