My first thought when I saw my toned print this morning was ‘Oh dear’, it was quite a lot darker than I had though last night but it is all part of the learning process. I had planned to weave my prints from yesterday and that is what I would do. I have very little experience of weaving photographs so did a little research. One short video I came across, link below, suggested I cut one photograph in vertical strips but keeping the frame intact and the other into horizontal strips. Preparation usually pays off and I felt this would help keep the piece together as I worked so followed this process.
I numbered the horizontal strips so that they were added in the correct order, having taken a photograph of the intact sheet first which proved to be useful as I needed to refer to it on several occasions. This method worked ok until I got near the bottom of the piece when it became difficult to weave the horizontal strips in. Both cyanotypes were made on fairly heavy watercolour paper and it needed to be softer and more pliable for weaving. In the end I had to open up the bottom of the vertical strips to complete the work. Even pulling each stip up as tightly as I could, I was left with 4 horizontal strips which wouldn’t fit in, again, partly I think due to the weight of the paper. I think next time I will leave the top of both sheets intact so that I have a solid top and left side to work from, also print the cyanotype onto thinner paper.
Thinking about tomorrow, I have 2 cyanotypes, both featuring ferns, printed onto fabric. maybe I’ll see what I can do with them.
Anne Bryson Photography 