Happy Christmas - with added sunshine!
To all those who celebrate it, have a very happy Christmas.
To all those who are not feeling festive, whether that's because you've lost someone, you're sick of the hype, or you've just had a bad time - sending you love and joy for the coming new year.
Here's a little video about making cyanotypes - I've been experimenting with them for our album artwork, and as part of our crowdfunder, which you can still take part in HERE: www.indiegogo.com/projects/feather-a-new-album-by-edgelarks
Cyanotype is a photographic process, and the prints created are sometimes referred to as sun pictures. This sunny element seemed symbolically fitting for this project, so I experimented over the summer, improvising a dark room (and creating a huge mess!). No footage from the dark room of course - where I coated the paper with the chemicals. But I then used feathers I'd found (including, yes, THE feather from Dartmoor), positioned them on the treated paper, and exposed them to the sun for varying periods. I then fixed the image using citric acid baths, and rinsed it out.
There is also a (slightly tenuous) link to one of my songs, due to the process being invented by John Herschel, Caroline Herschel's nephew!
I was really pleased with the results, but am continuing to experiment to create further prints for the project... Lovely to think of the sunshine, during these longest nights of the year.
Midwinter wishes,
Hannah x
