This is my first ever successful cyanotype. I have tried loads of times before but it hasn’t worked out for me. I was so excited to get a result -finally. Cyanotypes were invented by Sir John Herschel, who invented the process in 1842. He introduced it to a lady called Anna Atkins, who used cyanotypes for the first ever photographic book.

I wanted to take things further and make my own cyanotype paper. After extensive research I was able to create a successful batch of paper. This is a detail from my first homemade experiment using cherry blossom. Again, I was very excited to get a result.

My next challenge was to use the same process with a negative image printed on acetate paper. I used a photo of my great uncle who died in WW1. Cyanotypes are created by using objects or negative placed on top of the paper, which is then exposed to daylight -preferably strong sunlight. The image appears first as cyan blue against very pale blue but when placed in water it reverses and fixes as a white image against cyan blue -hence “cyanotypes”.