A mixed up process: cyanotype, lumen print, digital mash

A cyanolumen is a a print created by coating black and white photography paper with cyanotype chemistry. The print is only washed in cold water, and is unfixed. I view these works as transient pieces. They only exist in the digital realm.

I don’t do these very often due to not keeping the original. I’m a sucker for prints! But, I also love scanning, so maybe I should just let my hair down. Not admin scanning. Creative scanning. Think Helen Chapman flatbed images.

There are some really lovely areas of colour in the top one. The bottom one not so much. I had experimented with dragging the image with my fingers before the wash, but it’s not interesting. The image is made from cheap lacy knickers from China. The lace works beautifully and no one has to see how raggedy it is in real life 🤣

When you look closely and simplify the composition, you can find some really cool textures and colours. I scan my work at 600dpi so that I can do extreme close up images like these. They are edited together on my phone using a collage app to create mirror symmetry patterns. For some reason this makes me feel relaxed and I quite often prat about on my phone editing programs. There’s so much you can do.

I’d love to print some of these up on that lovely hahnemühle paper! I have printed a few of my phone creations and it’s lovely to see them in real life. Just costly. Maybe soon!