Cyanotype Printing and Toning

Sept 19 & 26

Saturday 12:30 - 4:30pm

$200 per student, includes all supplies*

Instructor:  Paige Billin-Frye

In-Studio Class 

* Black & White digital images (3-5 total) will need to be emailed 3 days prior to class

Cyanotype Printing and Toning

Experiment with one of the simplest of the hand-made historic processes. 

We will print cyanotype photos and tone them with plants, watching the blue of the prints change to other colors. We will also play with photograms, camera-less images exposed with objects placed directly on the emulsion-coated papers.

Cyanotypes are one of the simplest of the historic photo processes, a good entry to learning other non-darkroom photography. Developed in 1842 by John Herschel as a way to reproduce his mathematical tables, this became the process for making architectural blueprints of old. We will be using the same process, but with photographic negatives to make blue and white photos. After coating paper with the cyanotype emulsion and exposing our prints under UV light all it takes is water (and a weak acid) to develop the images. 

The magic continues when we will tone the cyanotypes using the chemistry of plants such as tea, grape leaves and strawberry leaves. The tannins in the plants interact with the iron in the cyanotype emulsion to change the blue to other colors. Each image becomes a one-of-a-kind work. We will also play with photograms, camera-less images exposed with objects placed directly on the emulsion-coated papers. Come prepared to experiment!

Supplies needed by participants: Students should have black and white photos that they can send 2 weeks prior to class to make negatives.. This process works best with images that have strong contrast. Images with subtle tones do not translate well.

About the instructor Paige Billin-Frye

Paige Billin-Frye is a Washington DC artist who illustrates for children's publishing and makes fine art that incorporates photography and hand-bookbinding. She enjoys exploring new materials and the cross-pollination of different ideas and techniques, moving between digital art and materials she can touch with her hands. Her passion for alternative photographic processes has her trying all the plants in her yard to see what colors emerge as she uses them to tone cyanotypes.

NOTE: We set our pricing to pay our instructors a fair wage and cover materials, but one of FBAC’s goals is to give access to the experience of all things bookbinding and printing to anyone who is interested. If you or someone you know would like to participate in a class but do not have the funding please reach out to contact@frederickbookarts.org and we will do what we can so no one has to miss out on the experiences we offer.