How to apply colours to the cyanotype prints? That is the question, that has been bothering me almost from the very begining of my artistic journey. Here you have one of the answears I found.
For quite a while i’ve been following very inspiring French artist Corinne Héraud . Her serie DRYADES drew my attention. I got amazed by the misterious technique – in between the paintings ant photography.
Luckily for me, she keeps posting her reels, where she slowly lifts the veil of secrecy. That is how I learned about phototransfer onto acrilic skin. That was the magic of her works! Apart from her imagination and talent of course.
Tones in Cyanotype
Although I love cyanotype with all my heart, I find it lacking in color. Of course, it can be toned with various infusions and teas, but the colors range from black to light brown. Purple and yellow are also possible, but the herbs that impart these colors are very difficult to use. However, there are no herbs that would give my cyanotypes the vibrant, even fluorescent, colors that acrylic paints do.
Perhaps transferring the cyanotype to acrylic skin would be a solution?
What is an Acrilic Skin?
Transferring photos onto acrylic skin is primarily used in decoupage. A laser-printed photo is then coated with several layers of acrylic. Once dry, you wet the paper and gently remove it, leaving the image on the acrylic. This creates a film-like structure that can be adhered to glass, wood, or a canvas. There are also various variations of this technique. You can adhere the image directly to wood, for example, using a layer of acrylic paint or a special photo transfer medium. What about cyanotype transfer onto acrilic skin – is it possible?
Cyanotype transfer
Without a second thought, I grabbed the first cyanotype I saw and got to work. It took me a while to remove the paper, as I use 300g paper, but… I succeeded! I glued the finished skin to a cardboard painting base that I’d painted with acrylics some time ago. The final result probably won’t impress you, an outsider, but believe me – for me, it was a milestone in my artistic journey!
I opened Facebook stright away, to show off my first ever cyanotype transfer onto acrilic skin in photography groups. At that moment, Corinne’s post popped up. She also made her first cyanotype transfer 🙂
Buy an existing cyanotype
or ask me to make a cyanotype of your photo 🙂
Write to me to discus the detailes