Cyanotypes

In 1704, Prussian Blue was first made accidentally from ox blood or other animal bits by near-alchemical procedures. After 140 years, after years of experimentation with various materials, on June 15, 1842 Sir John Herschel's paper, entitled "On the Action of the Rays of the Solar Spectrum on Vegetable Colours, and on some new Photographic Processes" was published. Sir Herschel merged the Prussian Blue compound with ultraviolet light and the cyanotype became the first successful non-silver photographic printing process. Because it was a relatively simple process, cyanotypes were used for the first photographically illustrated book. Further, being simple, cheap and fairly permanent, the cyanotype process enjoyed an extended period of commercial success as the method for copying office plans and architectural designs. In fact, the distinctive blue color of cyanotypes used in these replication process is where the term 'blueprint' originated. Today, the cyanotype process is primarily used to create hand-coated alternative photograph. The result is a unique image that holds texture and is distinctly different than a traditional black and white print. The images in this workbook were all created with the new cyanotype process created by Mike Ware; this process results in images with a darker blue and a higher level of contrast than the 'traditional' chemistry. The raw chemistry is hand-coated onto archival paper, contact-printed under ultraviolet lights and then rinsed under running water for 15 minutes.