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

I recently turned in a project for my photography class, specifically anthotype. Unfortunately it's not a "standard" process that everyone has as an assignment, rather, it was one that I chose to do myself. Anyway, I just thought that I might post my findings that petunia's work rather well for the process, especially purple petunia's (the red one's I attempted working with provided a brilliant pigment, but, the image had difficulty showing up. The reccomendation of blackberries on the "working with anthotypes" page is brilliant and was my fastest print, as well as my most detailed.

Expect petunia based emulsions (preferrably with ethyl alcohol) to take 4-5 days to print, with fairly decent contrast (as far as anthotypes are concerned). Also, petunia's do not yield a high volume of pigment, so, it takes quite a few petals to produce enough for one page. I also found that fairly sturdy papers like construction paper work well for the process, rather that lighter papers (this may have to do with the emulsion "sitting" on top of the paper, rather than soaking through).

I also found that solarizing the transparent positive you're working with (if you're not printing a plant cutting) works particurarly well, especially if the solarized image is on the darker side of things.

Anyway, just some small discoveries with anthotypes. I'll post my results when the project is returned to me.

Good luck with your anthotype project. I have a personal interest in anthotypes and would like to hear how you are doing.
Malin

You can get richer colors out of the pigments by cooking the plants. Follow the instructions (they're all over the internet) for making natural dyes. Basically you want to simmer the plants/berries/flowers/leaves for a good half hour, then mash or puree them into pulp. Let the pulp simmer for a while longer, but not too long, and then strain it through cheesecloth or a sieve. You'll get much richer results, at least I did with blackberries, beets and raspberries. Haven't tried it with flowers, but it should work.

I'm doing a lot of work with anthotypes myself and I'd love to see some scans when you get yours back.