Anthotypes – A nice colour game photographing without a camera

Gabriele Coassin shows how anthotypes employ vegetable juices on paper, exposed to sunlight similar to photograms. Techniques and exposure times vary with seasonal and regional conditions, impacting color intensity and the longevity of the resulting images.

Writer and photography / Gabriele Coassin

The Anthotype procedure at a glance

The ABC of anthotype is basically simple: a natural vegetable juice, smeared on paper and exposed to the sun with an object on it, leaves an imprint. Practically the ancestor of the photo-gram, of which you can see a simplified historical description for students, lasting half an hour, by searching YouTube for Gabriele Coassin FOTOGRAFARE SENZA FOTOCAMERA (PHOTOGRAPHING WITHOUT PHOTOCAMERA – the technique of PHOTOGRAMS” – Italian language only).

Producing an anthotype can take several hours, days, or weeks, depending on the natural product used. We try to use flat subjects (leaves, doilies, bits, and scraps of paper) held down with sturdy clamps or clothespins, between a glass and a rigid base, so they do not shift when we withdraw the composition in the evening to put it back in the sun the next day. Using emulsions that react to light in a few hours, I also make anthotypes at school. It’s a fun activity to create images; it encourages patience and manual dexterity, two skills that are diminishing today.

Beyond my table of recommended natural products, everyone is free to try scrambling flowers and berries, crushing them in a mortar with a pestle as they did in the 1800s, or with a hand-cranked meat grinder, more widely used in the mid-1900s, or finally, for the technologically inclined, with a blender or juice extractor. The more intense the color, the more noticeable the result might be (but this is not a given).

Browsing forums, one reads about various extravagances to intensify the color of extracts; for sure, all procedures starting with squeezing, grating, or blending should be done in dim light, even if not in a darkroom. After two years of fairly intense and careful experimentation and observing the works that have arisen in the workshops, I can confirm my preference: any plant product, variously chopped, yields its maximum color if left to infuse in an alcoholic liquid, the minimum necessary to keep the mixture moist, not to drown it. Of course, I am not talking about using the best Cuban rum reserved for true friends, but what is left over in the pantry and no one would dare to offer guests anymore. The higher the alcohol content, the less time it takes to extract the color. It might be a couple of hours in 40° vodka or gin, half a day in cheap 25-30° light liquor, or a day in robust 13-14° red wine. If I’m in a hurry for public demonstrations, I use denatured 90° alcohol for 30-60 minutes, depending on room temperature.

At school, I use only liquid extracts as they are, choosing natural products that are juicy enough, to which I add at most a little water if the mixture is too thick. The advantage of steeping in high-proof alcohol is multiple: it evaporates the liquid part more quickly when spreading the emulsion on paper, and—miraculously—it allows the leftover juice to be stored, tightly sealed in a small dark glass bottle. The alcoholic part of the emulsion, especially if it is not sweet, also helps to keep off a little mold and pests that tend to take advantage of the feast and place themselves on the paper during exposure in the sun, just where they are least wanted. Finally, it ensures a little extra durability of our masterpiece, which is bound to fade anyway. Yes, because unlike cyanotype, which is permanent, anthotype will continue to lose intensity over time. This is why adequate reproductions will be put on display and impermanent originals will not be shown, unless it is an explicit purpose of the author to let the works fade away. On the other hand, even those who make art prints do not display the plates, but numbered and signed copies.

Instead of spreading the vegetable broth with a brush, I sprayed the wooden board using a recycled and well-cleaned atomizer from a household detergent. I am going from memory, because in the first trials, two years ago, I did not take accurate notes. Here the filtered mixture should be turmeric and coffee with a final splash of paprika. Meanwhile, not being confident that sufficient contrast would show up after exposure to the sun, I soaked the previously dried panacea herb stem and seeds in coffee. After brief dripping, I placed everything on the sensitized plywood, pressing under glass, exposed to the powerful July sun for 12 middle hours on two consecutive days, always keeping the panel oriented in the direction of the sun. In each case, the coffee absorbed by capillarity from the dry plant made its effect, leaving a sharp imprint. After two years, the panel kept in the dark seems to have remained as it was when it was created. Then someone asked for it and I gave it away.“PANACE INSEMINA VENTO” (PANACE SEEDS IN WIND) Anthotype on plywood © G. Coassin 2022 — Instead of spreading the vegetable broth with a brush, I sprayed the wooden board using a recycled and well-cleaned atomizer from a household detergent. I am going from memory, because in the first trials, two years ago, I did not take accurate notes. Here the filtered mixture should be turmeric and coffee with a final splash of paprika. Meanwhile, not being confident that sufficient contrast would show up after exposure to the sun, I soaked the previously dried panacea herb stem and seeds in coffee. After brief dripping, I placed everything on the sensitized plywood, pressing under glass, exposed to the powerful July sun for 12 middle hours on two consecutive days, always keeping the panel oriented in the direction of the sun. In each case, the coffee absorbed by capillarity from the dry plant made its effect, leaving a sharp imprint. After two years, the panel kept in the dark seems to have remained as it was when it was created. Then someone asked for it and I gave it away.
“PANACE INSEMINA VENTO” (PANACE SEEDS IN WIND)
Anthotype on plywood © G. Coassin 2022

Choice of paper and application of emulsions

Working on a washable surface out of direct sunlight, vegetable sauces can be spread with a brush on sturdy paper to prevent waviness when it dries. Watercolor paper is preferred. For stability and preservation of originals, cold-pressed cardstock with a percentage of cotton is recommended, with a weight of 200/300 grams per square meter.

Various forums suggest many varieties. I have found satisfaction with the Italian Fabriano Rosaspina ivory-colored 220g/m for A4 sheets, or the decent and inexpensive Flying Tiger Aqvarel Block 300g/m cards, made in China. For A3 and A2 sizes, I prefer the French Canson Aquarelle 300g/m, acid-free, 60% cotton, made in England.

How much liquid emulsion should be applied to the paper? Not too much, to avoid wetting and deforming the substrate. It’s better to use successive layers. I do not recommend soaking the entire sheet in alcohol extract, as it wastes a significant amount of emulsion with no notable benefit. The more emulsion applied, the longer the exposure time in the sun needed to achieve a good image, with greater legibility of the photographic print and likely durability. Always store the image in the dark in a drawer and show the original only in dimmed light. The less emulsion used, the faster the execution and the lower the risk of altering the natural object/subject (e.g., crumpling leaves).

At school, I choose products with immediate effectiveness and single application, which usually dries within an hour in good weather or with a hair dryer on the back of the paper in a few minutes (not recommended for important work).

Compare the same emulsion, a turmeric and paprika mix, in a double layer. The left panel was exposed to the sun for 25 hours, and the right panel for 50 hours, both in an open plastic frame. Doubling the exposure time results in obvious discoloration of the sun-exposed parts and dried-up leaves, which shrink and produce a less sharp image. This is why I also included film tail pieces, as they are undeformable and semi-transparent, providing objective feedback from the experimentation. This is not an artistic expression, but a technical test.

Here is the result. The film tails at the base of the leaves in the right panel are almost invisible, appearing as vague shades. Due to the excessive flexibility of the thin artificial glass in Crylex, objects can move with each shift of the panel, creating a ghostly impression, much like a blurred photograph. To avoid this issue, it is not prudent to leave the panels exposed at night, as atmospheric condensation could ruin everything.Anthotype test under Crylex © G. Coassin 2024 — Here is the result. The film tails at the base of the leaves in the right panel are almost invisible, appearing as vague shades. Due to the excessive flexibility of the thin artificial glass in Crylex, objects can move with each shift of the panel, creating a ghostly impression, much like a blurred photograph. To avoid this issue, it is not prudent to leave the panels exposed at night, as atmospheric condensation could ruin everything.
Anthotype test under Crylex © G. Coassin 2024

On the number of layers of the sensitive emulsion, opinions and preferences vary, and here is mine. After almost three years of testing with single, double, and triple layers on different supports such as wood, fabric, and raw ceramic, I have found a satisfactory method with double layers for most vegetables. After applying the sensitive emulsion to the support with regular, crisscrossing brush strokes, it is essential to let it dry completely before applying the second layer. This helps cover any gaps in product density that are visible in single-layer work. With the double coat, exposure times double, and I have rarely achieved good contrast and intensity with less than 50 hours of sun in spring/autumn or 30 hours in summer, living in Northern Italy. This may differ in Sicily or California.

Before embarking on the creation of challenging masterpieces, which may bring about bitter disappointment, it's enjoyable to experiment with various ingredients to discover their potential and outcomes firsthand. It's essential to meticulously jot down every minute detail on paper with a soft No. 2 pencil (easy to erase). Here, initial tests are conducted under subdued lighting, starting from the left with double layers:Red beet in chili vodka Coffee in its pure form Turmeric in gin Paprika in red Raboso wine — Before embarking on the creation of challenging masterpieces, which may bring about bitter disappointment, it’s enjoyable to experiment with various ingredients to discover their potential and outcomes firsthand. It’s essential to meticulously jot down every minute detail on paper with a soft No. 2 pencil (easy to erase). Here, initial tests are conducted under subdued lighting, starting from the left with double layers:
– Red beet in chilli vodka
– Coffee in its pure form
– Turmeric in gin
– Paprika in red Raboso wine

Exposure times

The website alternativephotography.com contains nearly an encyclopedia of various processes, exposure times, and products. Particularly commendable is the initiative led by Malin Fabbri to compile a global database of anthotype enthusiasts annually. It’s crucial to note the exceptional diversity among seemingly similar natural extracts, influenced by seasonal and geographical variations in solar inclination as proposed by different authors and contributors; these distinctions can be significant.

Gabriele Coassin is an artisan photographer and reporter in his youth, he was included in the first Bolaffi volume/catalogue of Italian photographers; an award-winning video maker and author of professional texts, professor in Italian universities and academies. Now, in retirement, he has returned to his old photographic passion, a tireless experimenter of alchemies to be re-proposed in targeted workshops or in educational-experiential digital detox courses for the new generations, leading to the rediscovery of the slow, manual processes of proto-photography and ancient pre-cinema practices.