Cyanotype Art

This was a really cool art project my grand son saw on Youtube! Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that uses sunlight to create a blue-tinted image on paper or fabric. The process involves coating the paper or fabric with a light-sensitive chemical and then exposing it to sunlight. The areas that are blocked from the sun, such as those covered by silhouette images, will remain white or unexposed, while the areas that are exposed to the sun will turn a deep blue color.

Using my Glowforge to cut out silhouette images was a clever way to create interesting designs and patterns in our cyanotype art. By using the Glowforge to cut out shapes that blocked the sun, we created intricate and unique designs that was visually interesting.

Overall, this was a fun and creative project which produced some really beautiful and unique artwork.

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That turned out very cool!

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I grow vegetables and herbs indoors and the LED grow-lamps I use are cheap and unbelievably bright. It’s easier to look at the sun itself than these.

Not sure they would work for your process but if they did, it would be a very consistent way to produce these panels under controlled conditions…

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Thanks for sharing that unique inspiring technique!

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What a unique application! That’s thinking outside the box.

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Cyanotype uses chemicals that are sensitive to UVA (300 - 400 nm), so growlights should work. OTOH, sunlight is free most days. :innocent:

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Lots to do here! Only paper and fabric? Could it be used on slate or stone then developed then engraved? May not be laser safe.

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The chemical is coated onto the material then masked and placed under the sun or a UV source. It doesn’t see the laser, which (in this case) they used to make the masks…

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i believe it will work on most “porous” surfaces. paper/fabric are most common, i’ve seen references to wood (not sure if you’d get as bright a blue). It would be interesting to see if certain more porous stone would work.

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I’m sure the chemical will work on any light surface, but being “laser safe” is irrelevant because you don’t expose it in the laser.

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it does need to be “porous,” tho. it needs to absorb the liquid, can’t puddle on top.

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I have lots of chemicals left over so I will give it a try and let you know.

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