Tuesday, April 22, 2014

An Alternative Approach

Pre-washed & sun-dried suede leather test swatches
As I mentioned previously, I'm going to try a few more steps to see if I can get cyanotype chemistry to take properly on leather. I tried it on the leather right out of the shipping container and as soon as the chemistry was painted onto the skin, it turned midnight blue. Meaning it somehow developed itself instantly, without UV exposure. So, next step was pre-washing and drying one of the hides to see if that removed any residual chemistry or moisture from the material. I tested a small swatch of pre-washed/dried skin and got the same results: instant development, creating a bright blue dye. Newp, no good. So, I have another step or two in mind that might work... I'm going to try sizing the hide with a dilute mixture of glue and water to 'seal' the hide and create a surface for the chemistry to 'sit' on. I'll try the same thing with a gelatin mixture (animal products, unite!) just to see if that works better, or differently. Until I get those tests underway, I've decided to pursue some other ideas...

Since my experiments with cyanotype on leather have stalled out, I've got to find another purpose to put these hides to. I have 8 whole skins left, and one sliced into about 10 smaller sections. So, what else do I do with this stuff? Well, anything that requires washing is made vastly more difficult on leather, so lumen prints with Liquid Light are out. That leaves me with anthotypes, which require no water at all.

Annatto-dyed leather suede swatch
I've already begun preparation for testing. The leather takes anthotype dye well, which is great since anthotype dye is fairly cheap because it's largely just isopropyl alcohol with a pigment added. My first experiment was with annatto dye, but later I'll try blackberry or raspberry (whichever is in the freezer) dyes to get some other colors. These exposures will take a much longer time, and have a very different appearance... but unless I can get the cyanotype chemistry to work on leather, it's all I've got.

There is a nice kind of naturalism to making anthotypes on goatskin. Just natural ingredients, no chemistry. Only plant-sourced pigments and soft hide. We'll see what sort of detail I can get from the process... in a week or two. The skin takes a while to dry and I don't want to put it out wet, lest it molder or rot.

5 comments:

  1. Cyanotype on leather huh?Chceck this out:
    https://www.facebook.com/M6foto/photos/a.388672571308651.1073741828.388635224645719/413505782158663/?type=3&theater

    also:
    https://www.facebook.com/M6foto/photos/pcb.503255346517039/503253849850522/?type=3&theater

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    Replies
    1. Very interesting. Are these yours? I'd like to know more about what kind of leather was used and how it was treated! Send me a question on here if you like!

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  2. hi there! i had the same issue! it just turned blue immediately. i had the same experience with wood. i tried a veneer, and a piece of wood and both turned blue immediately. did you figure out why this happened?

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    1. I believe that the cause of the problem is tanned with vegetable tannins.
      Cyanotype on leather will not succeed unless careful selection of the tanning agent.

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  3. Here is my result.
    https://flic.kr/s/aHskHBAVRZ

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