Blogging for Thor: Fragmentary Fizzle

Two weeks ago, I was musing about the idea of printing on small bits of bone. I was able to acquire some fragments of turtle shell (and two whole turtle shells!) from Etsy. Since then, I've been experimenting, trying to print onto the shell fragments. It has not been easy.

The biggest problem I've run into is the chemistry turning blue far, far too quickly and without light. Currently, my thinking is that these shell fragments were cleaned with bleach, peroxide or some other chemical that is reacting with the cyanotype material. I first coated 10 fragments of bone, right out of the package they arrived in. I didn't think this would be a problem because I coated the previous bones all without washing or cleaning. There were three successes from that first group of 10.

The successes aren't as high-contrast as I'd like, but they are clear, visible outlines of the small bittercress leaves used to make them. After the first batch of failures, I washed the bones carefully and soaked them in water for a few hours before drying them in sunlight. I coated three more pieces,
but I was a bit too cautious. With only one coat of chemistry, the largest fragment shows a distinct image, but the blue is very weak. The other two from the second round started darkening before exposure, though I believe they may have worked if I hadn't simply forgotten about them and let them sit in bright light for too long. I may be able to use the reverse sides of some of this second round, and even one of the first round.

Today I tried applying a coat of clear acrylic matte sealant to the bone, hoping to provide a surface for the chemistry to adhere to that would not contaminate the chemistry with anything lingering in the bones. Unfortunately, the chemistry slid right off the sealant, even after sanding to roughen the surface. No go on that plan. The reverse side is still sealant-free, so I'm using that for the next experiment.

Now I'm trying to coat the underside of the sealant test piece and carefully monitoring it between coats, allowing each coat to get at least partially dry before applying a new one. So far there is minimal darkening of the coats.

Before any spiders ask, yes, I've tested the chemistry itself. I coated some scrap sheets of mat board and paper, then let them dry in the same conditions as I dried the coated shell fragments. They worked just fine. No darkening, no discoloration. It's specifically something about the shell fragments. Again, this was not a concern with the earlier bones or antlers.

As simple as deer bone and antler was to work with, I'm really surprised how hard these turtle shell fragments have been to print on. I was not expecting these problems, and now trying to track down the exact cause is rather frustrating. The successful pieces (currently 4) are encouraging, though, and I'm going to continue. The only problem is that I only had 20 fragments and so far, I've gone through all but 6. I'm quickly running low on fragments to experiment with.

I'm going to try separating the plastrons from the two complete turtle shells I have and breaking them into smaller pieces. Then I can coat the upper shells for single, large images and use the plastrons, which otherwise would not be visible with the shells hanging on a wall, in another project.

Here's hoping that I'm eventually able to work this out. I still have the goal of turning these tiny bone prints into jewelry. All these problems have made me worry about how well the whole shells are going to work. I only have the two of them and getting them wasn't exactly dirt cheap. Not too terrible, about $10 each, but for someone on my shoestring budget, that's not a willy-nilly purchase.

To view all the successful bone prints, check my Flickr or Instagram!