Divergent Practice

Throughout the project I came across obstacles due to not being allowed to travel to collect more seaweed and plant samples and not having printmaking studio access, which meant I could not do as much as I would have liked, for example I would have liked to try screenprinting and dark room photography. However, I feel I do have some strong prints showing many different designs which I would like to frame and display as part of my degree show. 

Although I think my cyanotype worked well framed I thought the fabric material could be better put to use. I think it works really well as a cushion and as a one of a kind piece that is unique to my experience of my walk on Gullane beach and this cushion reminds me of that day. I would love to cyanotype print onto fabric in the future and make other soft furnishings, as I really enjoyed the process and the results I got. I would also love to work with seaweed in the future too as I’m really fascinated by their diverse forms and beautiful shapes, which I feel this final piece captures well. 

I turned the cyanotype fabric face down and began sewing the sides. When three sides were sewn, I turned the case inside out and inserted a cushion before sewing the final side.

I started out by cutting my cyanotype printed fabric and a plain piece of fabric into a square, and placing my cyanotype face down on top of the plain fabric so that I could begin sewing the sides to make my cushion cover.

I have framed it in a simple black square frame which I think works well with the design. 

Wrung out and hung to fully dry. I have never cyanotype printed onto fabric before and I love the results. I may turn it into a cushion cover but In think it would work well framed too.

Rinsing my cyanotype in the sink

For my final piece, I chose to cyanotype print onto fabric. I soaked a white linen tablecloth in sensitiser and dried in a darkened closet. I then exposed the image onto the linen using a UV exposure unit and my collected seaweed. The above image was taken immediately after exposure and before rinsing in water. 

I made extra use of my collected seaweed for my Creative Project in which I am making botanical clay tiles. I first made a mould by pressing my seaweed into air drying clay, and then casting these final tiles from my moulds. I think this process is in a way a form of relief printing, so I have included them here.

I experimented with my collograph plates by running through the printing press before inking them to create these paper embossings. I like the effect and want to try this again on a larger scale 

I produced around 20 collograph prints in this studio session and I think they turned out well! They would work well as individually framed prints but I also would like to scan these and make them into a booklet similar to Teagan White’s zine

Using this process I was able to pick up the fine detail of the seaweed and create different effects depending on the amount of ink on the plate, as shown above.

I used a sensitiser kit which I sourced from amazon to coat my paper, which I then exposed the image of my collected seaweed on to using a UV exposure unit. 

A selection of seaweeds in a range of colours and forms. They are beautifully shaped and can be used in a variety of photographic print applications to enhance their unique shape.

Walking trip to Gullane Beach, East Lothian. I walked along the beach and collected seaweed and shells that had washed up on the shore. 

Every page of Atkin’s cyanotype book available via the Natural History Museum, London.

I am in love with Anna Atkin’s book, it’s almost hard to believe it’s from the Victorian era as it looks very contemporary. Atkin’s work has inspired me to use the cyanotype process with my own collected seaweed to create photographic prints.