Cyano Type Blue Printing

Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. Engineers used the process well
into the 20th century as a simple and low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints.
Invented by Sir John Herschel in 1841, this simple process produces a continuous tone
image of Prussian Blue using a sensitizing solution of ferric ammonium citrate and
potassium ferricyanide. These iron salts, when exposed to natural or artificial ultraviolet
light, are reduced to their ferrous state, producing a high contrast blue image when
oxidised. The process was eminently suited to its traditional role in reproducing technical
drawings, its most common use in engineering and architecture until the advent of modern
photocopiers. However, it was a versatile process, and was used throughout the 19th
century from Anna Atkins’ photograms of plants and seaweed for her books on botany
(1843–55) to Henri LeSecq’s still life studies of the 1850s. Photographers at the end of the century used
cyanotype paper for proofing negatives.

Procedure:
1. Immerse pieces of bond paper one by one in the sensitizing solution and keep them immersed for 4-5 minutes.
2. Remove the wet pieces of paper and place them between sheets of filter paper. This should be done as quickly
as possible and in a partially closed locker. Dry it for 10-15 minutes.
3. After the paper has dried, place an opaque object on top of the sensitizing paper, compress it between sheets of
glass and expose to sunlight for 4-6 minutes.
4. Make 3-4 exposures, varying the time of exposure to optimize the best condition.
5. After the exposure, dip the paper into 0.1M ferric cyanide. It is important that the paper is immersed all at once,
otherwise lines will appear on the blue field of the paper.
6. Remove the paper and dip it in 0.3M potassium dichromate solution for one minute. Afterwards, wash the paper
first with 0.1M HCl and then tap water and dry.
7. Paste all the images in your lab notebook with their exposure times.