Anthotypes!!

I finally built a contact printer that is stable enough to be outdoors for extended periods of time… or so I thought. The Plexiglas is currently being held down by c-clamps instead of hinges and its own weight. It actually began to curl up on me this morning. However, several prints have been made and I am pleased for my first try.

I should probably explain what an anthotype is… the antho prefix means flower. Flowers are collected, mashed to a pulp, and mixed with a little alcohol and vinegar. The mixture is strained through cheesecloth and the liquid can be used as a dye. It is light sensitive, but backwards from a normal photo-paper. The sun (or fake UV light in a box) will bleach out the light areas of a negative (returning the dyed paper to white) and leave the area under the denser part of the negative colored. A positive makes a positive. A negative makes a negative.

I used the the term flower loosely as many fruits make excellent dyes as well. I made two solutions to use as a pigment. One with blueberries and the other with beets. To each I added vinegar and alcohol. Then I coated 300 gram watercolor paper. The beet juice appears bright pink when coating but turned orange-y when dried. The blueberry juice was very light, so light that I coated the paper 4 times and thought I would still have to do more. I was thoroughly surprised there was wonderful dark blue pigment left behind when the paper completely dried.

I have several litho negatives/positives from my time in Italy so I started with those. One on the blueberry paper and one on the beet paper. The beet paper was finished bleaching in several hours and to save that print I disrupted the blueberry print. The blue print is salvageable but this is when I noticed that the contact printer was curling and I had to fix that before attempting to print again. By the time I did I knew there was only enough time to try another beet print today so I will try the blueberry again tomorrow(hopefully there will be sun!)

Here are my first two attempts at anthotype printing…

David. Florence, Italy. Beet Anthotype.

David2. Florence, Italy. Beet Anthotype.

 

I am also impressed with the scanner I am currently using, I can still see the grain of the paper. Blueberry prints to follow soon, possibly prints on canvas or wood as well. I would love any feedback, especially any tips on making digital negatives so I can increase my photo oppertunities.

a life different than mine

A side step from photography

My aunt, uncle and cousins are in town visiting the rest of the family right now. They arrived last week Monday and on my first outing with them on Tuesday I was reminded how incredibly different lives both of  my cousins live. We were out for dinner and in trying to figure out what the kids wanted to eat my uncle said “Amy, would you like fish and chips? Remember when you had that in New Zealand and liked it?”

Now remebering great meals in far off countries (did I mention I’m from Minnesota) is something that I can also do. I am fortunate enough to say that at the age of 23 I have been to eight different countries, most of which I traveled to while studying abroad last fall.

Amy is seven. She is frequent flyer gold/elite/something-or-other and I’m almost positive her country count is higher.

Most of this is due to where she lives (Guam)and my uncle’s job (biologist).

The next day they came to the beach and she seemed like any normal kid again. She likes the sand and the water, as long as there is a life-jacket involved, but our 70- 75 degree water was a little cold (the water temp around the island is around 85 degrees year round). And sunfish are exotic, while barracudas and mahi mahi are everyday occurances. A trip to the beach also includes a few mini-biology lessons on fish, birds, and other water loving animals.

She’s already lived a life very different from mine and it will continue to surprise me. When, and if, they ever decide to move back I don’t think the mainland will hold her attention for long.

Early Liquid Emulsion Print

I would like to start adding my liquid emulsion prints. This is an early print done on watercolor paper, 300 gram.

Florence, Italy