Last year, I worked out how to combine cyanotypes with soil chromatography. The deep browns and vibrant blues mix so well together, like the earth, and the water, and the sky. There is so much I want to develop with these combined processes. It’s my main goal for experimentation this year- finding different ways to combine the two and working at a larger scale.
One variable I tested last year was what types of paper work well for both chromatography and cyanotypes. The paper has to be absorbent and thin enough to allow for chromatography but sturdy enough to hold up to the cyanotype process. Of the dozen or so papers I tested, scientific filter paper works well but can be expensive when you’re buying anything other than round filter paper. Single xuan paper works well for chromatograms but easily falls apart when rinsing away the cyanotype chemicals. Good quality hanji works well but the colors are slightly muted compared to xuan paper. Note: don’t buy the hanji from Blick! Hanji is some of the strongest handmade paper available but Blick’s was so cheap that it almost completely dissolved when I rinsed it.
Finally though, I got my hands on double and triple xuan paper. Double xuan seems to work best, provided it’s good quality. It’s made by pressing two sheets of single xuan paper together. If the sheets have been pressed together tightly enough, it works very well, though some delamination can occur. Triple xuan holds together even better, but chromatograms may not spread out as far, so some detail can get lost. Plus, given the third layer or paper, it’s more expensive.
I’m still on the lookout for alternative papers that can work well for these combined processes, though. I’m hoping to test coffee filter paper, unryu, and I want to make some cotton rag, possibly mixed in with longer fibers like kozo.
The prints in this post were included in my exhibition at the Chinese American Museum. The cyanotype portion of the images were made using digital negatives of photos I took. The first two were made using double xuan and the last was with triple xuan.
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