AlternativePhotography.com

Historical photographic methods in use today – the art, processes and techniques of alternative photography

I am interested in trying some alternative processes involving contact printing. Besides cyanotypes, what other processes would be good for beginners and offer lower toxicity hazards?

Any suggestions appreciated.

I would say anthotypes and photosynthesis are the safest ones, though quite a lot of time is required!

Anthotypes:
http://www.alternativephotography.com/w ... pe-process
http://www.alternativephotography.com/w ... anthotypes

Photosynthesis:
http://www.alternativephotography.com/w ... c-supplies

Interesting! Thanks for the links. I have a poppy garden, so I just might try an anthotype just for fun. I'm also going to try the solar printing process as well.

Poppy is good. It's one of the plants with short exposure time. In fact it's quite sensitive, I would recommend making the emulsion at once, as soon as you picked the petals, and working with it indoors.
The prints are also - unfortunately - prone to fading quite quickly, so keep them away from sunlight once they're done.

After reading more on the anthotype process and the variety of plants, I wonder if anyone has done any experimenting with materials used in nature dyeing textiles. I also wonder if anyone has done any experiments using the mordants in nature dyeing to help fix the image, and if those mordants can prevent fading.

Time to play, I think!

I would be interested in hearing the results of your experiments Birdie. I am wanting to try anthotypes on fabric myself when I get some time. Am wondering if normal mordants would just fix the dye so it didnt wash out but not stop the development process itself?

I do quite extensive work with textile dyes being used for anthotypes. You can check out my work on flickr and on my blog. I try to keep good notes.


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