Fixing Cyanotype Issues

I loved the cyanotype process and how it worked out, although I did have some problems when it came to taking my work from the A4 size I was using to a fat quarter size. The issue with cyanotyping is I only have a4 photographic film, which means that the negative I use to produce the cyanotype is no bigger than that. The only solution would be to print across multiple ones and build up an image, however I felt like this would take a lot of time and also a long of the film, which was expensive and often precious in uni, meaning I had to buy my own anyway and try and use it sparingly. I tried to think of ways around this, one thing that popped to mind while working on my digital patterns was to make motifs out of my images. This was difficult as the background of the angels and flowers were detailed and did not want to chop this out of the image. I did my best and tried a few of these, some working much better than others did.

This is the result of one experiment on paper than I really liked. I also worked into this with stitch to try and make it more of an interesting placement piece. I think this works because of the dark edges around it, which I think would work well to be filled with stitch. I also did this on a fat quarter sized fabric afterwards too so this is ready to starting developing into my final collection.

As I was positioning the negatives on the exposure unit, an idea popped in my head of more of a patchwork like design, that gives the impression of a continuing pattern in itself. I tried this on a couple of sheets of paper so I am happy with the result of this.

It was difficult to line things up well as negatives as they were hard to see, so it was only really after the exposure that it was a good image to see what exactly I had done. I think these two are good examples, I also used some of the cyanotype chemical sparingly at the bottom so the effect looks more paintbrush-like and scratched away, however I do think this need something else, like digital stitch or something over the top and maybe something to separate the patches from each other. I was thinking something like fringing or a cording type design.

Working on Dye Samples

I decided that the dyeing I tried previously was quite successful and it does create an interesting background that is not just a solid colour. I think this has a good impact and could be used for a few different things as one of the final 12. So I thought about experimenting again to find a pattern I am happy with.

I started off basic again but trying flat colours and linear patterns, however I found the fabrics were too light with the linear one here and even the plain one did not fully get the colour across, so left a few spots where it did not dye properly onto it.

I also decided to look at how long I should leave certain bits in the dye, as the colour was changed the longer it stayed in. The first one here was kept in for around 2 hours, and the next one was overnight, and while it looks different to the naked eye than the photograph here, I do still think it is a little dark so for that reason I want to aim for the lighter shade when doing it again for a final collection piece.

I also experimented with the circular pattern here, how many circles I could get into it and how dense I could get them, I did this but using rubber bands and threads, which again make different effects to each other.

As shown in these images the amount of circles and the thickness of the lines makes a difference to the pieces, and I think it helps to make them unique and interesting. I quite like the one with a lot of circles but I do feel like it looks too structured almost then. I think I would like to go for something more like this last image as I feel like it has enough structure without looking too complex and built up.

Revisiting my Pattern Collection

After some feedback and relooking at my patterns, I knew some of them needed to be played with and altered a little more.

The hero was a problem when it came to printing out with the blue background, I went through a lot of testing and checking with various blues and various printers. Although I think I finally have a result I am happy with.

I printed both of these and compared them, the one on the right came out better with a slightly darker tone, so I think this would be the one to use. I also noticed an era of my final print where the pattern had distorted and repeated elements behind it, making it far too busy and clustered, so I had to alter this as well.

This pattern needed something else to it, so I decided to increase the number of flowers behind it and give it more of a textured background rather than a basic repeat of the flower. I am still not sure whether this could be improved further.

This one I thought was a good pattern, although the repeat made it too small and I found it was much too much of a tiled repeat, even though I also put it into half drop. I increased the scale of this as I did not want it as big as just using the first tile I created, so I think this turned out to be an A6 image, which can of course be printed bigger but I do think it works well in this size as it shows enough of the pattern without giving away the obvious repeat.

This pattern was one I was quite happy with initially, although it was pointed out to be that the flowers were just floating around not really touching anything. So I decided to layer some up and combine them, I do like the result of this, however it does look as though some of the line drawings have some different colours somehow, although they were all done as black. I think to do this again I would have to redo the digital line drawings, although printed out this does not look like such a difference in the colours of the lines.

 

These were my blender patterns, the first one went through many changes and adaptations, although I did like the way I had it close to the beginning. I also did a pink version, but I much prefer the white background as it makes the little motifs stand out nicely. The other three images are colourways of my other blender, they also show a difference in scale, starting with the pink being very small, and the yellow being quite a large one. I think a realistic one would be the pink or blue, as I think the yellow shows the blender as being far too obvious as a flower and I would have liked it to be more like a dot like repeat.

Overall I am happy with my patterns, and the changes they went through to get to the stage they are at now. I used them on the product mockups too which helps me to see them on objects, proving that they do work.