Artist Jo Howell tells us about her latest cyanotype photography series of works.

For the toning lesson that I am creating for Patreon I have been making toned artworks. I had begun to have a brilliant collection of various hues. I also have a fair amount of leftover demonstration prints from workshops.

Cast offs. Things created to teach and often done quickly. As part of my reuse, reimagine and remake mentality I had to come up with a plan. Though there are many imperfections and deviations in tone the good quality watercolour paper really shouldn’t be wasted!

You can support me on Patreon for access to the lessons. There are 5 already up and available.

I’m working on toning cyanotype (6), cyanotype on ceramic (7), cyanotype on glass part 1 and 2 (8 & 9) and the final lesson (10) will look at creative ways to use cyanotype in teaching and art with participation as a core theme.

I’ve used different teas and coffee for the most recent toning sessions. In previous lessons on toning I have created my own toners using rosemary, lavender, and poppy flowers from the yarden. The rule I apply to making my own toners is simple: if it’s edible then it’s safe for you to boil up to make tannin toners.

Each different tannin gives a slightly different tone. As you can imagine there is lots to explore!

The much more yellow tone comes from turmeric and ginger tea. The slightly purple hue from green tea and peppermint.

I used a 3 inch die cutter to cut the circles and I used the circles to create a wall hanging. They are held together with small silver metal links. Each hole in the circle was punched by hand. Each chain link closed by hand. It was pretty nuts but I think there could be more interesting things to explore with the off cuts. I have all the holes that were punched and trimmings from each component.

The next step is to build a similar hanging but with the square compositions. There are 42 circles in the first sculpture I have made. Now I have proof of concept I should go bigger.

Let me know what you think!