September 28th 2024 is World Cyanotype Day. An annual celebration of all things cyanotype. The theme this year was ‘Enchantment’ and this is my entry. It’s a wet cyanotype created using a hand cut butterfly stencil and a selection of pressed flowers and leaves. It’s 38 x 28 cm on Hahnemuhle Platinum rag paper. I added soap suds and diluted white vinegar and it was exposed for around four hours on a bright sunny day in September.
I was inspired to create the image after a noticeable decline in the number of butterflies here in the UK this summer. They were severely affected by the cool wet summer. Let’s hope that next year will be better for them.
You can see more submissions by other artists for World Cyanotype Day in an online gallery created by the lovely people at Alternative Photography. Click here to view. The last day for submissions is 4th October 2024 so keep checking back for updates as new images are added.
A couple of work in progress images showing the cyanotype during exposure and after exposure but before rinsing.
Mirrored Images 