Cyanotype Lace Purse – Trompe L’oeil

Printing on fabric involves similar techniques as on paper, with a few key differences. Cyanotype prints on fabric are often more striking and can be embellished with embroidery. Kim Tillyer shares her project uses a 100% organic cotton purse blank, requiring more solution and careful drying for optimal results from her book Beginner’s Guide to Cyanotype: Beautiful projects to print with light.

Writer and photography / Kim Tillyer

Printing on fabric uses the same basic techniques as using paper but with a few small differences. I find the results of cyanotype printing on fabric are often even more beautiful and striking than on paper, and it’s great for embellishing with embroidery or, in this case, mimicking hand-made lace. For this project I’ve used a ready-made purse blank made from 100% organic cotton.

You will need

• As fabric absorbs the solution much more than paper does, you may need to make up a larger volume of solution
• Purse blank made from 100% cotton
• Vintage lace or paper doily
• Newsprint or card, to put inside the purse while you coat it
• Optional: embellishments for your purse, from zip pulls and embroidery designs to labels. I’ve added a silk zip pull to my purse, as well as a personal label.

Necessities:

• For measuring, mixing, storing, applying and processing
• Two chemicals – Ferric Ammonium Citrate (a fine greenish-yellow powder with the consistency of icing sugar) and Potassium Ferricyanide (a gritty red powder with the consistency of caster sugar).
• Measuring spoons (a teaspoon, a half teaspoon and a third of a teaspoon), measuring jugs and tools to stir with (I use craft sticks).
• Light-proof jars for mixing and storing. They should be opaque or made from amber glass, if possible, to protect the solution from UV light.
• Water.
• Brushes, for painting the solution onto the surface.
• Reusable protective cover,
• Nitrile gloves, goggles and a face mask

Measuring, mixing, storing, 
applying and processing

1. To make 50ml (¼ cup) of processing solution (this should be enough to coat plenty of paper or fabric, and is roughly the volume used for each of the projects in this book), add 6.25g (1⅓ tsps) of Ferric Ammonium Citrate to a jar and mix with 25ml (5 tsps) of water with a spoon until it’s completely dissolved.
2. In a separate jar, add 2.5g (½ tsp) of Potassium Ferricyanide and mix with 25ml (5 tsps) of water until the powder has dissolved.
3. You now have two jars of solution that will become light-sensitive when you combine them. Carefully pour the two into an opaque, light-proof bottle (I’m using a clear glass jar so you can see what the combined solution looks like) and then mix them together, making sure all the crystals have dissolved. The liquid is now sensitive to light and ready to use for coating your paper and fabric.

Making the purse

1. Wash, dry then iron the purse. Washing removes any finishes on the fabric, added during the manufacturing stage.
2. Fold a piece of newsprint or card then pop it inside the purse blank to stop the solution staining the back and inside. Make sure to remove this before the rinsing stage! Prepare your work surface then make up your solution. Then, carefully use a foam or hake brush to coat one side of your purse.
   Note that coating fabric is not always as smooth and easy as coating paper, and uses more solution. You might find you need to load your brush more but, at the same time, you need to avoid splashing and over-soaking the fabric because you want it to dry fast and evenly. Remember the solution will continue to spread 
as it works through the fibres so, depending on your fabric choice, it’s not always easy to get a straight outline or perfect shape.
3. Lay the coated purse flat on a protected surface then leave it in a dark place to dry. You could peg up the corners and hang the purse for drying, but make sure it hangs somewhere dark and the surface below is protected from any drips. You need your coated purse to be completely dry, before proceeding to the next stage – see the tip box.
4. Once the purse is dry, arrange the lace on top of the coated fabric. Cover the lace and purse with a sheet of transparent acrylic or glass for good contact, and for a crisper print. Expose for at least 25 minutes if you are using a UV lamp. If you rinse too soon, you risk getting a pale and washed-out result, like faded 1970s denim (which isn’t always a bad thing).
5. Rinse the purse, as on page 32. Washing the solution out is easier than with paper because you can squeeze the fabric and make sure you’ve completely rinsed away the chemicals; you can also use warm water after the initial wash in cold water.
6. Hang to dry. Remember that the blue will continue to darken as it dries. Iron the purse before adding any other embellishments like zip pulls, labels, and so on.

Optional

Once dry, you can repeat the process on the other side of the purse, if you wish.

Drying your fabric

It’s important to allow your fabric to dry after coating it with your solution. This is so you can achieve a crisp print that doesn’t wash out at the rinsing stage, but also to avoid getting the solution on your piece of beautiful lace.

The drying process for fabric can take a while, and this is the part that I find the hardest because my studio isn’t very warm. The longer it takes, the more you risk light and oxygen starting to oxidize the solution. Working at night under normal light bulbs, then leaving the fabric to dry overnight in a dark drawer (lined with paper) should be fine. If you are willing to invest in one, the ideal would be a proper print-drying rack in a warm, dark room.

If you discover that your coated fabric has started to darken as it dries, don’t panic – try printing with it anyway. I’ve had some nice results from unpromising-looking beginnings!

After pursuing family life, Kim Tillyer returned to art, earning a first-class degree in Textiles and Surface Design. Her cyanotype art, featured on BBC Countryfile, culminated in her book “A Beginner’s Guide to Cyanotype.” See Kim Tillyer’s gallery and get Kim’s Beginner’s Guide to Cyanotype: Beautiful projects to print with light.