Jacquard Cyanotype Sensitizer Set

A quality product my art results were great

It works

The color is great. All exposure times have all been over 30 minutes for me to get it just right. I have made more than 10 8.5x11 prints on cotton fiber paper out of just 30mL and I still have some left over to use before I renew this batch. So this can make hundreds of prints, depending on the size. Its quite a deal for this product. I approve! Ive only used the sun, so Im not sure how well UV light will do, but I can say when exposing in the sun, the sensitizer needs to turn a brownish color before I can develop it, if Im looking for a deep blue color.

Works very well and is easy to use. The bottles contain the chemicals in powder form, to which you need to add water. That can be a little tricky since the bottles are opaque. Be careful not to overfill. You need to shake up the bottles and let them sit for a day or so so completely dissolve (according to instructions). They say the chemicals are pretty safe, but I used rubber gloves and Im sure theyd stain if you got any on you. I used watercolor paper and a wide soft brush. The paper was pretty absorbent, so it was not easy to get even coverage. I found that making long, fast strokes worked best to keep chemical from soaking in unevenly. A harder surface paper might be better. No idea how it would work on fabric. I poured a tablespoon of each chemical into a dish, which was enough to coat 8 sheets of 8 x 11 paper. They say this kit will make around 65 8 x 10 prints and I would guess youd get at least that if not more. I used transparency film negatives printed on my laser printer, but for really solid white areas on the print I think Ill be using a commercial copy shop to make the negatives. (You can also use a sharpie to draw directly on film, but remember that what you draw will be white on a cyan background.) I made a sandwich of my negative and paper between two sheets of picture glass, held together with small binder clips. Be sure to coat and store your unexposed paper and assemble your print frame in a darkened room . It seems more sensitive to ambient light than I expected. I tried various exposure times and found 5 minutes on a sunny day to be more than adequate. Adding just a cap full or less of hydrogen peroxide to the rinse water makes it develop its deep blue color almost instantly. Be sure to rinse the prints thoroughly. Any residual chemical will continue to darken.

Did photograms in the sun on a variety of papers. Took about 20 minutes outside in direct sunlight, but probably could have used less time.

Worked great!

So much fun! This is such an easy process and the possibilities the ‘wet’ cyanotype process present are myriad. I have just scratched the surface of using cyanotype in my artwork, but these inexpensive Jacquard materials are easy to use and the documents say they will produce 50-60 8” x 10” sheets. My experience using fabric suggests this is realistic, so lots of experimenting lies in my future. Why has this marvelous process been limited to architectural blueprints for so long? Artists, take note, this process is a new and powerful arrow to add to your quiver of techniques. And the blues which result from this process coordinate beautifully with the indigo shibori I have been dabbling in.

It was everything I expected it to be. I over did the first few. You dont need to apply a lot to be a good print.

I really like how simple it is to mix and apply the cyanotype solution. It worked well on paper and fabric. Im very happy with the results.

I have used this for cyanotype before. Works well