“Cabernet Sauvignon” by Syl Arena
Country: USA
Parts used: Cheap wine, straight from the bottle
Amount: Uncertain: prepared several sheets over multiple days and discarded the last remaining bit
Application: Soaked in shallow tray of wine for several minutes, drained, dried horizontally
Layers: Dipped and dried five times
Substrate: Inkpress Media Pro Gloss, 330 gsm (synthetic inkjet paper)
Created with: Photogram of grape stem pressed and dried in a flower press; spray painted white on top side to create more density
Exposure: 5 days in intense California sun, during incredibly hot weather, August, summer, 2023
Contrast: ✿✿ (Medium)
Challenges or observations: The wine transitions from deep magenta through russet to the beautiful saffron yellow very slowly. My first print, a photogram of the pressed stem made over three days, demonstrated that the leaves allowed a significant amount of light to pass because the areas masked by the leaves were significantly lighter than the saturation of the emulsion on an unexposed sheet. To create my exhibition print, I spray painted the leaves white to add density. This enabled more of the original saturation in the emulation to be preserved while also adding two more days to the exposure. I suspect that many “low contrast” anthotype emulsions actually may be the result of over-exposing the print rather than the contrast of the emulsion.
Additional information: My exposure frame is a sheet of plywood covered with 3 mm of neoprene, topped by a 6 mm sheet of glass. During the first multi-day exposure, the neoprene softened in the heat; the grape stem embossed the paper. For subsequent prints, I carefully aligned the paper and stem to continue the embossing. This beautiful detail is difficult to see in in reproductions of the print. The glossy emulsion of my inkjet paper absorbed the alcohol-based wine emulsion beautifully and endured repeated dipping and soaking without any degradation. I encourage those looking to increase saturation of their anthotype emulsions to explore inkjet papers.
Instagram: @syl_arena
Facebook: facebook.com/SylArenaArtist
Website: sylarena.com
Wine, red, Cabernet sauvignon (Vitis vinifera) anthotype by Syl Arena
This anthotype is part of World Anthotype Day
World Anthotype Day was started by AlternativePhotography.com in 2022. In August anthotype artists all over the world celebrate the anthotype process and send in their entries. We add them here to the database and create a reference book for each year. The purpose of the day is to build a large resource where artist can learn which pigmenets and plants that work and draw inspiration from other artists' work. The reference books can be found here:
Volume 1 is the first book in the series:
Volume 1 contains 60 unique anthotype emulsions from 103 artists taking part from 31 countries.
Anthotype Emulsions, Volume 1 – The collective research from photographers on World Anthotype Day 2022
Volume 2 is the second book:
Volume 2 contains 100 unique anthotype emulsions from 139 artists taking part from 31 countries.
Anthotype Emulsions, Volume 2 – The collective research from photographers on World Anthotype Day 2023
If you want to learn more about making anthotypes there is also the "how-to" book:
Make prints using plants - an environmentally safe process!The most comprehensive resource on Anthotypes.
Anthotypes – Explore the darkroom in your garden and make photographs using plants
Rated 9,8 - based on 224 votes
If you are already practising anthotype printing, we suggest making notes to document and learn:
50 pre-defined pages for you to document your anthotype process.
Anthotype notes – Document your anthotype process
Rated 10 - based on 2 votes
