Solar Art: my blue period

Sun Art by Ellen McHale

Solar prints, sunlight art, sun prints, cyanotypes are all ways to describe the process of capturing shadows on light sensitive paper.  Its like taking a photograph but without a camera and the image captured is a shadow of the object that you placed on the paper.  This is a fabulous way to create some spectacular artwork for your home and it is relatively easy to do.

Sun Art Paper

You need to purchase some Sun Art paper to begin.  It is relatively inexpensive and can be found at your local art and hobby supply store like Dabblers in Concord or even Amazon.  It is sold in many sizes so let your imagination be your guide. 

Nature's Artwork: Ferns

Gather some stems or ferns from your garden. I chose to clip a few fern leaves from my indoor house plant.  I pressed them in a heavy book overnight just so the leaves would lay flat.

Ferns ready for their Close-Up

With a tweezer, carefully position your ferns on the cyanotype paper.  You will need to lay the paper on some cardboard or in this case -  I used my cutting board.  Once you are happy with your arrangement, place a piece of acrylic (it usually comes with the kit) over your leaves and paper.  Bring your board out into the sunshine and let Mother Nature do the work.  Once the paper fades to a very light blue (1-5 minutes) bring your set up back into the house.

Bath Time!

Again with the tweezer, pick up the paper and place it in a tray of tepid water.  I squirted a few drops of lemon juice into the water because it will turn the paper a deeper shade of blue once it is dry.  Submerge your print for a minute or rinse under running water and then lay your paper on some paper towels to dry.

Repeat the process

While your paper is drying, why not try another arrangement of ferns?  It is so easy to do and most kits come with multiple sheets of cyanotype paper.  

Solar Art

Once your prints have dried, you will need to press them in or under a heavy book overnight.  Now it's time to think about how you plan to display your new artwork.  

3 Ferns by Ellen McHale

2 Ferns by Ellen McHale

Floating Ferns by Ellen McHale

How you choose to display your artwork is important.  Whether your artwork is made by a master artist, your child or yourself - all can be made into an "important" work of art by the way you choose to display or treat that piece of art.    In this case, I mounted my solar prints onto carefully torn water color paper.  I signed and titled each print with a white pen.  You will notice in my prints that there are water blobs that seem to float in the frame - I find that magical and I want to highlight those little imperfections.  

I chose frames from West Elm that were clean-lined.  These frames actually came with artwork in them but I removed the prints that were inside and placed my own original work into the floating glass and was more than pleased with the results.

An Original by Me!

The art looks fresh and modern and I couldn't wait to find a place to hang it.  Give it a try - you may just find that your original works of art deserve to be on display.

See you next week,

Ellen