I have just started my experimenting with wet cyan printing. Here is just a mini tutorial, but much more information will be coming soon.
It’s real easy to get started by purchasing these pretreated fabric sheets. You can buy them through Amazon, Dharma Trading, or other online stores. They are a bit pricey, but I wanted to try them before I invested in the solution. I had so much fun doing this that I did buy the solution and will be preparing my fabric shortly.
Once the fabric is prepared or if you buy it already pretreated, place it on a surface. I’m using glass, but it can be foam core or anything that’s sturdy. Here are the directions:
- Spritz the surface with water or other liquid (I’ll talk about the other in a future post).
- Put the fabric on your surface.
- Place your botanicals or other masks on the fabric.
- Spritz the fabric with water or other liquid.
- Cover with glass.
- Take it out to the sun.
This is not an exact science. Exposure time really depends on the temperature, sun or no sun, and what you are expecting. For this one I let it set out for 30 minutes.
This is how it looked when I removed the botanicals and the glass. So pretty, but it will not stay like that.
Now the fabric goes into water for five minutes or so. Change out the water a couple times. When the water is clear, hang it to dry. Here is the finished piece. It’s pretty, but the green and yellow are gone!
Here is a piece with leaves. Look at all the water spots I got! I really love the effect.
In this last one I got these neat sparkles. They are from sprinkling some dry soda ash on top of the fabric before spritzing. I’ll be doing more of that for sure.
This print is made using a fabric stencil.
And this one I used a bit too much soda ash, and maybe not enough time. But the more I look at it, the more I like it!
If you are on instagram, search #wetcyan and you will see some lovely pieces. Online all you need to do is search wetcyan and you’ll see all kinds of beautiful prints on fabric and paper. I just recently found out that Krista McCurdy created this technique using paper. You can check out her tutorial here. I came to this technique from the beautiful work of Sue Reno and Leslie Riley.
I’m just getting started! I’ll be posting more results soon. I’m linking up with Off The Wall Friday. Check out all of the inspiration there.
Thanks for dropping by.
I will be trying this soon ! ! ! ! ! Looks like another fun surface design option.
Luann, I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Get that soda ash ready!!
They are beautiful, Lynda! Too bad the green and yellow washed out of the first one, but you could probably do an overdye or paint dyes in. Wonder why it disappeared? Question: are these colorfast, or will they fade with time? Wondering how it would work on shirts… can’t wait to see more of your experiments!
Judy, It’s a photographic process so only the blue remains. My understanding is they are colorfast if you don’t put them in the sun. Not sure how they’d work on shirts – just haven’t investigated that. Yes, can overdye or paint – an upcoming post I’m working on!
Always fun to experiment. It’s been a while since I played with cyan printing. You make it tempting to try again.
Great results. I did a lot of cyanotype many years ago, but it was never wet.
Gwyned, Yes, I love the process and learning. I sure hope I’ve tempted you!!
Norma, Thanks. I’ve always loved cyanotype prints but also never tried wet. It’s pretty interesting.
Hi! Lovely work. I would very much appreciate it, however, if you would credit me as the inventor/creator of the wet cyanotype technique. My website is kristamccurdy.com and my IG is @kristamccurdy. Thank you in advance!
Krista McCurdy
Hi Krista, I will add you to this post as the inventor of this technique. I have followed Sue Reno for years who introduced me to this back in 2017 through her blog, and also Leslie Riley, both great fabric artists.