Cyanotype and Anthotype Prints

In this project I used Cyanotype chemicals and Natural homemade dyes to create Sun prints with different flowers and plants that I foraged. Making these pieces was a beautiful exercise in slowing down as it required many steps and a lot of breaks in between these. This included making the natural dyes, drying flowers, applying the dyes and cyanotype to paper/textiles and letting these dry, and then printing the pieces in the sun which was dependent on the intensity of the sun light and could take a couple of hours to develop depending on the light conditions. It was a really rewarding experience to see all these steps come together in the final pieces and to recognise how slowing down allowed me to appreciate the prints more deeply. I particularly enjoyed making the anthotypes as it required a lot of experimentation with making the dyes and having to wait and see how light sensitive the color from different flowers/plants was. It also felt really magical to see how the dyes changed when exposed to light and to see colours emerge that weren't visible in the flowers before. After making the prints I was also able to use some of the cyanotype prints on textiles to make lavender pillows with Lavender I harvested a few weeks earlier. It was a really great experience to create a final product where I was able to be involved in so many parts of the process of making it, and I am really happy with how the pillows turned out! Overall, this project allowed me to appreciate the forms and colours that are in my surrounding more, because it encouraged me to slow down and become more aware of these. It was a great exercise in recognising the creative inspiration that is always surrounding us in our natural environments, where even in the smaller things such as the shapes of leaves and flowers there is such incredible diversity and beauty.